Alberta’s New Democrat Opposition says the province’s energy minister is undermining the independence of its supposedly arm’s-length energy regulator and telling it what to do.suggesting it accept three coal exploration applications despite a government order that’s supposed to ban all such development in the province’s Rocky Mountains.
Al-Guneid says Jean should be trying to making the regulator more credible and dealing with Alberta’s thousands of abandoned wells and other liabilities.Ron Davis, Reeve of the Municipal District of Ranchland, calls Jean’s letter political interference in what should be a reasoned, fact-based decision.
Northback Holdings is hoping to build an open-pit coal mine in the southwest corner of the province’s Rocky Mountains, a project that has already been turned down by both provincial and federal environmental reviews.