‘It’s a catastrophe’: Southern Alberta’s ag industry concerned over potential coal mining pollution

Chris Spearman tells Danielle Smith she is risking $14 billion agriculture industry and 200,000 jobs by encouraging foreign coal mining in the Rocky Mountain headwaters.

By Karsen Marczuk, CTV News, Lethbridge

Irrigated farmland near Granum at risk from coal mining. Peter Jowett photo.

Pushback continues to mount over possible coal mining on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, with the latest being a letter penned to the provincial government over the impact coal mining could have on the agriculture industry.

“We are very concerned with the impact on integrated agriculture in southwestern Alberta,” said Chris Spearman with the Water for Food Group.

“We don’t understand -- our question to the Alberta government is basically – ‘are they prepared to sacrifice a multi-billion-dollar food industry for a coal mine?’”

Read Karsen Marczuk’s full report on CTV News website . . .

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