Alberta’s Cancelled Coal Leases Called a ‘Trick’ An ex-deputy minister terms yesterday’s step back ‘misleading.’ And it won’t deter a court challenge by ranchers and First Nations. Tyee contributing editor Andrew Nikiforuk is an award-winning journalist whose books and articles focus on epidemics, the energy industry, nature and more. SHARES ‘The government didn’t follow the rules when they rescinded the Coal Policy,’ says Alberta rancher Mac Blades, among those asking the court today to reinstate legal protections of Rocky Mountain slopes from open-pit mining. Photo by Callum Gunn. Caught off guard by the fast-growing grassroots opposition to vast expansion of open-pit coal mining in the southern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, Alberta’s government announced yesterday it would cancel 11 newly-issued coal leases covering 1,800 hectares.