Coal consultations to start in late March

Alberta says public consultations on its plans to expand coal-mining will begin March 29 but there's no decision yet on how they will go ahead.

“I have directed my department officials to bring forward a comprehensive consultation plan that is by Albertans and for Albertans,” Energy Minister Sonya Savage said Tuesday in a release.

“The details of the process will be announced before consultations begin.”

One critic said any feedback collected by the same department that has been encouraging the industry's expansion isn't likely to go far enough.

“Alberta Energy has lost a lot of trust in their dealings with the coal issue,” said Katie Morrison of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.

“It does seem a little like a quick-and-dirty process to get back to the business they started with.”

Last spring, the United Conservative government revoked a policy that had protected the Rocky Mountains and their eastern slopes from open-pit coal mines since 1976. The decision was made the Friday before a long weekend without public notice or input.

Opposition built and spread until it included smalltown mayors, First Nations, popular entertainment figures and a broad spectrum of Albertans. More than 100,000 signatures were gathered on petitions opposing coal-mining in one of the province's best-loved and ecologically important landscapes.

Earlier this month, Savage reinstated the policy and promised there would be public input on coal-mining. No more leases on the most vulnerable land would be sold, she said.

Six companies still hold exploration permits allowing hundreds of new drill sites and kilometres of new and refurbished roads on previously untouched land.