Documents released under Alberta Freedom of Information laws confirm the United Conservative Party government was talking with the coal industry about relaxing a policy that protected the Rocky Mountains from open-pit mines long before making those plans public.
The ruling comes in response to an attempt by the United Conservative government to block the release of the documents to a group of southern Alberta ranchers.
Critics are asking why the Alberta government's proposed regulations on renewable power seem to have ignored the conclusions of its own utilities regulator.
"Assuming all renewable development locates on (some of Alberta's best) land, the percentage of (such) agricultural land loss is estimated to be less than one per cent by 2041," says a report released Wednesday.
Health care and education came out ahead on Thursday in a generally restrained Alberta provincial budget forecasting a paper-thin surplus that could easily go up in smoke.
“This issue is not settled. Companies continue to profit from Alberta’s resources while ignoring their community obligations and funnelling profits to executives and shareholders.”
In a letter dated Thursday, the Alberta Energy Regulator says it has decided the Grassy Mountain proposal should be considered an advanced project and be exempt from a ministerial order banning coal development along the province's eastern slopes.