Member of Alberta coal mining committee feeling ‘disgust and dismay’ over new plan [Video]

A member of a five-person panel created by former energy minister Sonya Savage in 2021 to consult the public on the future of coal mining in Alberta says he’s in a “state of shock” about recent moves by the province.

The Alberta government recently lifted a ban on coal mining in the Eastern Slopes, something the Alberta Energy Regulator said will allow suspended projects to resume and an energy law expert said will open up large tracts of land to coal exploration.

Bill Trafford was a member of Alberta’s coal policy committee. He is the president of the Livingstone Landowners Group, and he says he’s not the only committee member shocked by the recent news. 

“[The committee] just can’t believe that the government would ask us to do all this. And we did it … in a way that was probably much more thorough and much more positive than anything they’d ever done, in terms of getting public engagement,” Trafford said …