“Four Unusuals” is how Harvey Locke referred to a group called together by Kevin Van Tighem in late May, 2021. Kevin wondered whether, in this polarized age, four individuals from across the political spectrum — Kevin, Harvey, Ted Morton and myself — could find enough common ground for a joint submission to the coal committee. Could these “four unusuals,” who “disagree on many things,” model how to “transcend partisan lines” on the issue of coal mining in the eastern slopes? Yes! We co-authored the submission below — also available from the coal committee’s document library — and met with the committee to discuss it.

As the coal committee’s consultation on eastern-slopes coal policy gathered steam, the federal-provincial Joint Review Panel on the Grassy Mountain project reached a decision.