The Editor:
What heritage are we leaving our grandchildren?
Last week I was cutting grass (you know that never ending job this year), and a truck from out-of-province stopped and the driver wanted to chat. One of the things he mentioned was the lack of reclamation being done on the mined out areas.
We went to a family get together on July 1 and one of the subjects that came up was, you guessed it, the lack of, or the poor job, being done on reclamation.
In other places, even in this province, there is a way better job of reclamation being done. In these places the earth is being returned to original contour and productivity in a timely manner. It is then sold back to private people (not just friends) so future generations can make the land produce again.
Basically, the land was flat and had wetlands and trees (you know that carbon sink that is needed). Now, after mining there are deep gullies with small lakes in the bottoms that don鈥檛 seem to grow cattails and slough grass which is not as conducive to wildlife as natural sloughs, and there is no action being taken to improve the situation.
We seem to have a foreign corporation that only cares about profits and not about the future of this area or the people in it.
I asked one of the RM of Estevan councillors why they let a coal company get away with a poor job of reclamation and his answer was, 鈥渨e wanted them to, but the provincial government took that authority away from us and is allowing the company to continue with the current practise.鈥�
So why is the provincial government allowing a mining company to get away with a poor job of reclamation? Don鈥檛 they care about us or future generations here in the southeast?
Some day the coal will be gone. Then what? What heritage will we be leaving our grandchildren.
Think about it.
Reg Jahn
Roche Percee
