{"id":56130,"date":"2020-12-22T14:51:47","date_gmt":"2020-12-22T19:51:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=56130"},"modified":"2020-12-22T14:51:47","modified_gmt":"2020-12-22T19:51:47","slug":"alberta-government-fines-hunter-for-trespassing-on-australian-coal-lease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=56130","title":{"rendered":"Alberta Government Fines Hunter for Trespassing on Australian Coal Lease"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Alberta Government Fines Hunter for Trespassing on Australian Coal Lease<\/a><\/h3>\n

Levi Williams-Whitney traversed the land to make a video opposing open-pit mining. He has no regrets.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n

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\"HuntersPerspectiveStill2.jpg\"
Still from a video made by Levi Williams-Whitney, titled\u00a0A Hunter\u2019s Perspective: Open Pit Coal Mining in Alberta<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n
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The Kenney government has fined an Alberta hunter $600 for making an\u00a0anti-coal video,<\/a> but the young man says he\u2019s laughing.<\/p>\n

Last October, Levi Williams-Whitney went for a gambol up Grassy Mountain just north of the town of Blairmore in Alberta\u2019s historic Crowsnest Pass.<\/p>\n

Much of the mountain is now owned by Benga Mining (Riversdale Resources), a firm purchased by Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart in 2019 for $700 million.<\/p>\n

With the Kenney government\u2019s blessings, Rinehart, an iron-ore magnate and Australia\u2019s wealthiest woman, has proposed to reduce what is now the habitat of mountain sheep, trout and elk into a giant open-pit coal mine. (The mountain top removal project is under a joint federal-provincial review.)<\/p>\n

Another bunch of Australian developers want to remove more than half a dozen other nearby mountains from the Rockies to also supply Asian steel markets. They, too, have the government\u2019s\u00a0enthusiastic support<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Williams-Whitney, an avid hunter and environmental student at the University of Lethbridge, wasn\u2019t impressed with Rinehart\u2019s plans, let alone the Alberta government\u2019s\u00a0red-carpet treatment<\/a>\u00a0for Australian coal miners.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe video was my way to express some of my frustration and refine my thinking about the issues,\u201d said Williams-Whitney who has hunted for elk in the eastern slopes for years.<\/p>\n

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