Conservation groups shift focus in tackling mine next-door to Jasper National Park
Nature Canada • Pembina Institute • Sierra Club of Canada • Jasper Environmental Association • Sierra Legal Defence Fund • Alberta Wilderness Association
EDMONTON, AB – The conservation groups from across Canada that have been challenging the Cheviot open-pit mine have decided to shift their campaign focus from the federal courts to the regulatory and enforcement agencies overseeing the mine, the federal and provincial endangered species provisions and the mine’s parent companies. Although serious legal issues persist, the groups have decided not to appeal last month’s Federal Court decision regarding their challenge of the federal approval for the first phase of the coal mine; known as the haulroad and the Cheviot Creek developments. The 7,450 hectare mine is situated less than three kilometers from the national park, on public lands in the core of a high-elevation wildland earlier determined by the federal and provincial governments to be critical wildlife habitat and warranting of protection as a nationally significant natural area. Read More