During and after his 2016 campaign, the current U.S. president promised to make coal great again. He also claimed climate change was a hoax, so it’s no surprise that he’d promote a cheap, outdated, polluting, climate-altering fuel even as cleaner alternatives continued to become more efficient and cost-effective.

But the U.S. president isn’t alone in wanting to double down on archaic, deadly coal in the face of a climate crisis. Alberta, not content to drive global heating to catastrophic levels with its dirty bitumen, is now moving to expand its coal industry — with little or no environmental oversight.

Even though Canada is moving to phase out coal-fired electricity, we’re happy to export it to other countries. It’s like a drug dealer who knows the harms of addiction, and so quits a personal habit but continues to sell to others.

The proposed Vista mine expansion near Hinton, Alberta, will increase thermal coal production from about seven million tonnes a year to between 10 and 15 million tonnes. Even though it will destroy ecosystems and put endangered species at greater risk, the project isn’t required to undergo a federal environmental assessment — in part because the company revised its estimate of the “project area” to fall below the threshold that requires review for any “increase in the area of mining operations of 50 per cent or more.”

Source: Column: Coal power should be relegated to the ash heap of history | The Rossland Telegraph