Thread by @PhilipTurnbull

OK #ableg #mountainsnotmines #defendabparks I read up on the Ram Coal Corp leases near Nordegg.

Another thread on one of many coal companies aiming to set up shop in Alberta, putting our mountains, water, and nature at risk.

Today's focus: Water 1/10

⏬🚨⏬THREAD ⏬🚨⏬

Here's a map of Ram Coal Corp's leases and their "Aries" project. All on former cat 2 land where open pit coal mining would have been prevented by the now rescinded 1976 coal policy

200+ sq km of leased land for coal exploration, only 15km from the N. Sask river. 🏞️
2/10

Remember @albertandp plan to protect the Bighorn Wilderness that the UCP were angry about and scrapped?

"There was a tremendous amount of economic concerns and questions that were not answered." - Jason Nixon

Economic concerns like....coal mines?🧐
cbc.ca/news/canada/ed… 3/10

Kacia Kerr @cpawsnab "It's an important area for many species and also the source of drinking water for all communities along the river, including Edmonton."

Yup #yeg, we're going to allow coal mines to pollute your drinking water. Sorry, not sorry-Jason Kenney, probably. 4/10

Not ONLY does N Sask provide drinking water to Edmonton, but also SK & MB

Maybe #skpoli and #mbpoli should pay attention to coal dev in AB...

I'm starting to see why Bighorn has been called "the missing piece" by @HeadwatersAB & @ABWilderness
loveyourheadwaters.ca/the-bighorn 5/10

Ram River is one of the LAST strong populations of bull trout in the province, which is endangered so any catch has to be released.
But sure, poison them with selenium, that's fine.🤦‍♂️

Also habitat for caribou, grizzlies, bighorn sheep and mtn goats.
cbc.ca/news/canada/ed… 6/10

Now, who the heck is Ram River Coal?

Private company based in Van, with *no* other projects, this is their ONLY development
Major shareholders: Liberty Mining, Lundin Family, CD Capital

Since they LITERALLY have nothing else to do their website....could use a little work🤷‍♂️7/10

In the 155 page technical report commissioned from Norwest Corp they analyze everything from financials, coal types, vehicles, even materials that they'll use for a storage shed.

Selenium and water quality, on the other hand, gets a single paragraph without any details. 🤷‍♂️ 8/10

Wildlife and environment?

"We started 7 years ago but we still have to do the work. We don't have baseline data yet but when we do, we're sure that we'll do the bestest job" 🤦‍♂️
9/10

This looks like very early stages as really all they have is a report, money, and drilled test sites.

....but they do have over 200 sq km of coal leases in a critical watershed and wilderness area so that's...neat.🧐

Up next? Montem resources' Tent Mountain and Chinook Project

Oh yeah, who's the MLA for Nordegg and the surrounding communities? None other than Environment Minister @JasonNixonAB

Here's a Red Deer Advocate article with some thoughts from locals. (Spoiler Alert: They're not happy)

reddeeradvocate.com/news/this-is-a…

The Matts ™️ & Brian Bateson would like me to point out Ram River applied for leases when NDP were in power-True ✅

Doesn't change facts on watersheds, selenium, bull trout, etc, also doesn't make @albertandp responsible for UCP repealing the 1976 coal policy as Brian implies❌

@TheBreakdownAB ☝️
😉😉