The UCP government has set up an independent panel to consult with Albertans on a coal policy.

Energy minister Sonya Savage says they'll be meeting with indigenous groups in the province.

"On the indigenous consultation there will be government-to-government separate parallel process....to talk to indigenous groups to get their views," she says.

The chair of the committee, Ron Wallace says it will be a fiercely independent and focused committee gathering Albertans views and making the government aware of them.

"Not all of the views are going to be based on environmental science, some of the views are going to be based on aesthetics, values and traditional values that have come forward in Alberta and could be affected by these, by a coal policy," he says.

He's joined by Fred Bradley, a former minister of environment under Peter Lougheed, Bill Trafford, the chair of the Livingstone Landowners Group, a tourism business owner from the Pikanii First Nation Eric North Peigan and a woman from the Hinton Chamber of Commerce, Natalie Charlton.

Albertans are being invited to start off the process by taking part in an initial online survey.

The committee is to report to the minister by November 15, 2021.

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