Corb Lund’s anti-coal mining petition approved by Elections Alberta

A petition started by country music artist Corb Lund to ban new coal projects on the Eastern Slopes has been approved by Elections Alberta.

Country music artist Corb Lund’s citizen’s initiative petition has the go-ahead after previously being rejected.

A change in legislation forced Lund to reapply under more strict conditions.

“We sort of made lemonade out of the lemons and used the time to strengthen our IT people, our legal people, our canvasing people, our organizing people. So, we have a pretty strong team in place and we’re raring to go,” Lund said

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Moe than 1,000 people so far have volunteered to be canvassers.

They’ll need to collect 178,000 signatures, which is 10 per cent of the votes cast in the last general election, in the next four months.

If successful, the legislature could pass a coal mining ban or send it to a referendum.

“This is about our water. It’s about stewardship of our rivers and our water, and it’s not a crazy left-wing ecological maniac thing. It’s our drinking water. And it’s irresponsible mining at the headwaters of our really vulnerable rivers,” Lund said.

The petition says the prohibition would include the controversial Grassy Mountain coal project north of the Crowsnest Pass.

Northback, the company behind the project, said in a statement “Alberta has a proud history of building projects to meet world demand for our resources, and Albertans support the continued development of these resources.”

A 2024 municipal referendum showed 72 per cent of Crowsnest Pass residents supported the project, but the vote excluded the 200,000 people living downstream from the proposed coal mine.

“I’m cautiously optimistic that things will proceed because the coal company has been given the go-ahead. They have done some drilling,” said Bonnie Castellarin, a founding member of Citizens Supportive of Crowsnest Coal.

The province won’t speculate on the outcome of the petition.

In a statement, the Office of the Minister of Energy and Minerals Brian Jean said, “We are developing some of the highest standards in the world for coal mining and conducting a royalty review to make sure Albertans are fairly compensated for their natural resources.”