Two small western towns where coal is king look to the future in uncertain times
HANNA, Alta. — The hand-painted sign on a bumpy road on the east side of Hanna speaks volumes.
“Hanna supports coal, cows, gas and oil,” it says bluntly. The sign includes a circle with a line through it over the words “carbon tax.”
The town of 2,700, 230 kilometres northeast of Calgary, like many rural Alberta communities, has largely lived off agriculture.
But a large vein of thermal coal east of town led to the construction of the coal-fired Sheerness generating plant in the early 1980s and has provided welcome jobs and business in the region ever since.