24/02/2021
A Visit to Ashington Colliery in 1975 by Chris Allen.
I lived for much of my life in Edmonton, which when I was young still had the remains of entrances of small coal mines within the city itself, although much of the coal used early in the twentieth century came from Southern and Western Alberta, in Lethbridge, Drumheller, the Crow's Nest Pass area and elsewhere.
Open pit mining was still carried out just west of Edmonton when I left for my new home in Victoria, BC a few years ago.
Recently, the Alberta government tried to open more areas for mining near the Rocky Mountains, in places that have been protected for decades because of the dangers of environmental destruction in a fragile ecosystem but public outcry has stayed most of their plans for the moment. The province is hard-hit by the collapse of the oil industry, US refusal to allow a new pipeline to be built to Texas, and low oil prices generally. The situation is reminiscent of the great mine shutdown in the UK particularly in its effect on jobs and the families that depend on them. So, it's no wonder the Conservatives in the province are trying to find a new way of stimulating the economy. Unfortunately, they are not thinking of the future, and reinventing what good intelligent people might be able to do.
