In-Depth Alberta’s ‘back door’ plan to free up billions of litres of water for coal mines raises alarm Amid concerns about droughts, selenium pollution, at-risk species and Indigenous consultation, the Alberta government is poised to allow coal companies to undercut a functioning water market 20 min read Rachel Herbert is the fourth generation of her family to ranch in the Porcupine Hills. Her kids will be the fifth. The eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains are visible from the family’s land: rolling prairie carpeted with native grasses where her cattle graze under big Alberta skies. The Alberta government’s rescindment of a longstanding coal policy, leaving previously protected lands available to open-pit coal mining, has her concerned about her family’s livelihood. Mines could be tucked just behind Plateau Mountain, not far from the Herbert family ranch.