Vista impact assessment needed.

This letter of concern is being sent to Canada’s Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson.

Dear Sir you, having been Saskatchewan born, and now the M.P. for North Vancouver know full well the love Westerners have for their expansive lands and clear waters. Our Heritage.

Knowing what is happening now in Alberta makes one very sad and very angry at the same time.

The proposed Vista coal mine expansions located in huge areas of Jaspers East slope foothills is not only disgusting but heart rendering to those of us with generations tied to the lands of Alberta.

These lands and waters are used by countless Albertans and visitors alike for recreation: defined by the way as “a refreshment of strength and spirit”.

We hike, fish, hunt, paddle, draw, photograph, camp, climb, ski which all nourish the human spirit and reconnect us to the lands and waters that feed us.

This must not be continually destroyed by coal mining impacts which not only clear cuts the forest habitat but will kill our life giving clear waters for generations of life forms with their toxic poisons like arsenic, selenium and sedimentation clogging the spawning beds.

Waters being proposed to be taken for coal use, all from head water sources that feed the Athabasca watershed are already under heavy stress due to droughts, climate change, and municipal uses. These head waters feeding the Athabasca must also have enough clear cold flow that will keep fish alive in the smaller channels for winter and allow for spawning.

We have endangered species like the Bull trout and Cutthroat here as well.

The lack of deep enough water year round and silted, poisoned river beds will wipe them all out. SARA is supposed to protect them, a Federal responsibility.

Over six generations of my family have been in Alberta and I want the next six to enjoy what we have left of the natural world. The future generations and every other voiceless lifeform like the finned ones, winged ones and four legged ones have the right to a clean, sustainable, healthy future. We are their only voice.

Please make the right decision in stopping this Coal destruction and any future proposals so there will be many future generations that will enjoy the rights and privileges we have now. Your children and grandchildren included.

The future children will look back at this generation in total disgust if we do nothing except continue to destroy what’s left of our natural world.

Thank you in advance for doing what you know is right. From Art Jackson, an Albertan that cares.