CALGARY — The head of the Alberta Energy Regulator has cancelled an application hearing for a potential coal mine, a move that he acknowledged is "without precedent."

The hearings had been scheduled for a proposed underground coal mine in Grande Cache, Alta., owned by Summit Coal Inc., which would produce about 3,562 tonnes of coal per day.

The decision by Rob Morgan, chief executive of the regulator, reverses those of hearing commissioners that had denied requests by Summit to cancel the hearings. Commissioners at the province's energy watchdog previously said the company hadn't provided the legal basis to support cancelling the hearings.

"My decision should not be construed as a means by which parties can circumvent hearing or other AER decisions they disagree with," Morgan wrote in h

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