Tag Archives: coal

Protect Our Parks – Edmonton

2020 has been a crazy year to say the least. I am honoured by the amount of support that this event has raised and delighted to see just how many people want to stand up for our provincial parks.

This fight is only just beginning. We now have the official opposition taking a stand for our parks with their \"Don\'t go breaking my Parks\" campaign, along with the CPAWs \"Defend Alberta Parks\" cause. This issue is only being brought further into the spotlight here in Alberta.

I understand that many of you will be disappointed by the prolonging of the date for this event again but for multiple reasons we just are not ready to make it happen. The government recently passed a new bill that makes protesting more dangerous and more difficult. For this reason among others, including COVID-19, we will be postponing the event once again. This will no doubt frustrate many if you who just want to stand up for this cause.

I promise you however, that this event will happen this winter, and when it does, we will make a big impact. Myself and the other admins will once again be working to plan this event and gather a diverse group public speakers from conservation and recreation backgrounds. I too am disappointed that this is once again postponed, but it will all be worth it when this eventually happens.

If you know of someone who is qualified and willing to speak at this event, please send me a private message.

One other change to this event is that we will now allow targeted signs to the UCP that explain why this \"Parks Optimization\" plan is bad for Albertans and bad for our ecology. We do ask however, that we keep it \"kid friendly\" and refrain from any extreme vulgar language. If you, like many of us, see the obvious connection between Parks closures in the Rocky Mountains and the cancellation of the Coal Policy, feel free to speak up on that issue as well. It is very obvious that the government wants to dissolve parks status and then allow coal mining in the Livingstone Range and the Bighorn area. SPEAK UP ON THIS!

I thank you for your continued understanding and support.

Get dressed up in your best skiing, climbing, or hiking gear and come down to the Edmonton Legislature Grounds to protest the proposed changes to our Alberta Parks! We are hosting a peaceful and apolitical protest to fight the proposed budget cuts. We want this event to be about our parks, not our parties.

The Alberta government is planning to fully or partially close 20 provincial parks. In the process of doing this 164 sites will be removed from provincial designation and left vulnerable to third party management.

These closures are accompanied by campground fee increases and cuts to services, such as trail maintenance in many prominent cross country skiing areas.

As Albertans, we are privileged to have access to some of the most beautiful and well maintained natural spaces in the world. Environment Minister Jason Nixon says that Alberta can no longer support the \"retail\" side of parks. Nixon has not confirmed whether the 16,000 Hectares proposed by this movement will be sold off, and has asserted that conservation will still be the main priority. However, the proposed changes leave these sites vulnerable, and the future of our parks uncertain. If the Government can threaten 16,000 acres of parkland within their first year of power, imagine the losses that can occur in the next three years.

We believe that everyone should have access to these spaces and we want to make our voices HEARD. We are hosting a peaceful protest in order to bring awareness to this issue. Please join us on March 29th to respectfully share your story of why these natural spaces are important to you and why we should always continue to protect them. In doing this we hope to raise awareness regarding the cruciality of protecting our parks while directing people to forms of action.

Please get in touch with us, if you would like to share your story about why the parks are important to YOU!

FOR THE LOVE OF OUR PARKS!
#protectourparksalberta #protectalbertaparks

some notes-

If you are planning to bring a sign, please make sure to avoid \"political bashing\" and make a sign on recyclable materials. some suggestions for slogans are: we love Alberta parks, protect our parks and don\'t leave us in the dark about our parks.
-this event will go on snow or shine, please be prepared to be outside and bring what you need to be comfortable for an extended period of time (i.e food, water, warm clothes, chairs etc.)
please respect the space we are presenting in as well as the spirit of the event.
please use a pack it in, pack it out mentality and leave the site spotless, recycle your signs etc.

If you would like to sign the petition follow this link:
https://act.leadnow.ca/dont-let-kenney-privatize-nature/

If you would like to do some more reading on the issue check out these articles:
https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/alberta-releases-list-of-parks-to-be-closed-or-partially-closed
https://globalnews.ca/news/6623820/alberta-parks-closures/

If you would like to write a letter to your MLA please check out this awesome template.

A groundswell is building among Albertans

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In 2020, the Alberta government quietly rescinded a long-standing Coal Policy with no public consultation.

This opened up 53,000 square kilometers of western Alberta’s landscapes, including our foothills and Rocky Mountains, to open-pit coal mining.

A move that puts drinking water for millions of people, recreation access and wildlife habitat at risk.

K.D. Lang

Join those speaking up

Since then Albertans across the province, from all political spectrums and backgrounds, have asked for mountains, not mines.

Ranchers, Indigenous peoples, recreationists, communities, conservation groups, and many others have stood up to challenge this. Recently musicians such as Corb Lund, k.d. lang and Paul Brandt have shown their support for these areas.

Recent research points to protection

And they’re right to do so. This month, new research shows Alberta’s Eastern Slopes as one of the most important places in Canada for its combination of freshwater, carbon storage and recreation — not to mention important wildlife habitat.

Yet, in the months since the coal policy was quietly rescinded in May, approximately 358 new coal agreements have been granted in the Province, many within this key portion of the Yellowstone-to-Yukon region.

Most of the public’s attention has been on the dozens of leases in Alberta’s southwest, and rightly so. Coal mining the headwaters of the Oldman River threatens the drinking water for millions of Albertans and those downstream in prairie provinces.

But other areas are affected too, like the Bighorn backcountry between Banff and Jasper National Parks. This affects the North Saskatchewan River, where Edmonton and other communities get their water from.

Add your voice to this issue. It’s not too late.

You can help stop this. Join others and speak up. Let government know what you think about this shift in policies. 

Tell the Province that Alberta’s Eastern Slopes should be kept as intact as possible and that our headwaters are no place for open pit coal mines. Tell them you want our mountains protected. Explain why you value these lands.

Write decision-makers.

Tweet at, call or write to your MLA. Even if you’ve done it before. Even if you’ve only received a form letter or no response in return.

Also contact these provincial and federal ministers. This decision matters on a national scale.

the provincial Minister of Environment and Parks at AEP.Minister@gov.ab.ca
the Minister of Energy at minister.energy@gov.ab.ca
and the federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change at ec.ministre-minister.ec@canada.ca

Share this message

Tell your friends and family and urge them to speak up for nature. Share our social media posts about coal mining with your networks: Instagram / Twitter / Facebook.

Speaking up for nature matters. Standing up for what’s right counts.

Thank you for sharing this and other issues impacting our planet’s lands, waters, people and wildlife with others.

Hilary Young,
Senior Alberta program manager

Header photo: A. Jacob

‘Morally and ethically wrong:’ Court to hear challenge to Alberta coal policy removal

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Parade of Alberta Coal Developments Threatens Recreation Areas, Biodiversity

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EDMONTON — At least five popular recreation areas in southern Alberta are surrounded by coal exploration plans and one of them has been partly given over to an exploration lease, raising questions about their future with lovers of the outdoors.

“We’re not leaving a picnic table and a campground on the precipice of an open-pit mine,” said Katie Morrison, conservation director with the Southern Alberta chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. “I can’t imagine that (parks) could continue if some of these mining plans go forward.”

A provincial spokesperson said no development will occur in the parks.

Information released this week by the province shows about one-third of the Oldman North provincial recreation area, a campground north of the Crowsnest Pass, is covered by an exploration lease granted last August to Elan Coal Ltd.

“Any development would require notification to Parks Division,” said a government email. “Any exploration would be expected to avoid any entry into the (provincial recreation area), but you can see that the coal agreement does surround (and enter) parts of the park.”

Morrison notes that Elan’s plans show a mine pit almost on the border of Oldman North.

Maps compiled by environmentalists show four other areas—Livingstone Falls, Honeymoon Creek, Dutch Creek, and Racehorse—have become islands in a sea of coal exploration leases.

Exploration typically involves drilling and road building. Mine construction would only happen after regulatory review.

Alberta Environment and Parks spokeswoman Jess Sinclair said the recreation areas are safe. “No industrial development or exploration will occur within any parks or public recreation areas within Alberta,” she told C, adding that the Oldman North lease “lies outside the boundaries of the (recreation area) itself.”

Elan did not respond to a request for information, but its website says the company is committed to good environmental stewardship. “We acknowledge the potential of our operations to impact water resources and will employ a proactive risk management approach to water management,” it says.

The five recreation areas are popular, said Neil Keown of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. In good weather, the parking lot for Oldman North is full by 9 AM, he said.

“From the motorized or random camping perspective, that entire region is exceptionally popular. There are hundreds of anglers that descend on that stretch at any given time.”

The Alberta government is promoting metallurgical coal development. It has rescinded decades-old policy blocking activity in a large swath of the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains and is reopening water allocation agreements with coal mines in mind. The policy decision is facing a request for a judicial review.

Environment Minister Jason Nixon recently told outdoors blogger and webcaster Michael Short that parks are safe from coal development.

“They’re not being made into coal mines,” he said November 30. “That’s not happening. There’s strong laws to prevent that and rightly so.”

But Morrison wonders.

“(Nixon) either hasn’t looked closely at where coal exploration is happening in relation to these parks, or he isn’t lining those two things up,” she said. “We can see very clearly that there’s coal exploration and activity happening right around these places, and they will be threatened by coal.”

Research published late last year identified the region being explored for coal mining as one of Canada’s environmental “hot spots”—areas that have a high potential for recreation and which offer environmental benefits such as biodiversity and fresh water for millions downstream.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published January 8, 2021.

This article was reprinted with permission from Energy Mix.

“The good news Albertans needed”: Provincial government announces 175 Alberta parks sites will no longer be delisted or closed

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Steve MacLellan

Ramble On

Tag Archives: coal

Protect Our Parks – Edmonton

A groundswell is building among Albertans

‘Morally and ethically wrong:’ Court to hear challenge to Alberta coal policy removal

Parade of Alberta Coal Developments Threatens Recreation Areas, Biodiversity

“The good news Albertans needed”: Provincial government announces 175 Alberta parks sites will no longer be delisted or closed

In 2020, the Alberta government quietly rescinded a long-standing Coal Policy with no public consultation.

Join those speaking up

Recent research points to protection

Add your voice to this issue. It’s not too late.

You can help stop this. Join others and speak up. Let government know what you think about this shift in policies.

Write decision-makers.

Share this message

Speaking up for nature matters. Standing up for what’s right counts.

Header photo: A. Jacob

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Related Discussion Group Posts

You can help stop this. Join others and speak up. Let government know what you think about this shift in policies. 