Country Musician, Corb Lund, has started a petition to stop coal mining on the Eastern Slopes. Photo from Watchdog Management website
Country musician Corb Lund is set to bring his anti‑coal mining petition to Elections Alberta on Wednesday.
Earlier this week, Lund said his team had already surpassed the 178,000 signatures needed to force the province to respond under Alberta’s Citizen Initiative Act, though he didn’t release a final number. He credited the milestone to a massive volunteer push, about 3,000 canvassers, thousands of signing events, and plenty of community organizing across Alberta.
Lund says the strong response shows how deeply people care about protecting the province’s headwaters and the Rocky Mountains.
The petition began circulating in February and needed to hit the signature threshold by Wednesday. It calls for a ban on new coal mining in the Rockies, arguing the projects pose unnecessary risks to the environment and especially to water sources. Among the proposals drawing concern are the Grassy Mountain and Blackstone projects, which critics warn could threaten major river systems.
Lund has been one of the most vocal opponents of renewed coal exploration since 2020, when the province briefly lifted long‑standing protections on the Eastern Slopes and started issuing leases. After a public backlash, the government reversed course, restored the rules, and paused lease sales. Since then, the province has said it plans to ban mountain‑top removal and new open‑pit mines, though the regulations aren’t finalized and some major projects are still moving through approvals.
If Elections Alberta confirms the signatures, the provincial government would have to either introduce legislation banning coal mining or put the question to a provincewide referendum.
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