A petition launched by award-winning musician and sixth-generation Albertan Corb Lund together with the “Water Not Coal” campaign has garnered the minimum required signatures under Alberta’s Citizen Initiative Act, marking a major development in this province-wide effort to protect Alberta’s Eastern Slopes from coal development.

The petition calls for government to prohibit through legislation all coal exploration and mining activities within the Eastern Slopes of Alberta’s Rocky Mountains, other than mines that are in actual production as of January 1 this year.

This prohibition includes Northback Holdings’ Grassy Mountain project and Valory Resources’ Blackstone project as well as any projects to expand any producing mines.

Lund says openpit coal mining in Alberta’s Rocky Mountains results in selenium contamination in rivers, dust in the air and a known carcinogen into the watershed that farms, towns and cities in Alberta depend on.

Lund, Water Not Coal and volunteers from across the province will deliver the required petition packages to Elections Alberta.

The submission caps off one of the largest grassroots mobilisations in Alberta’s history, powered by thousands of volunteers and hundreds of thousands of Albertans who signed in person at community events, sidewalks, ranches, markets, breweries, and doorsteps.

“Albertans showed up for their water, their land, and their future. Reaching this threshold proves what we’ve known all along — people care deeply about protecting our headwaters, our Rocky Mountains, and our way of life,” Lund states.

The petition calls for legislation prohibiting new coal mining and exploration on Alberta’s Eastern Slopes, the source of drinking water for millions downstream. The petition specifically mentions two proposed mines of concern – Northback Holdings' Grassy Mountain mine, and Valory Resources' Blackstone Mine project.

However, coal mining threatens the entire Eastern Slopes region and the critical headwaters that feed the Athabasca, Oldman, South Saskatchewan, North Saskatchewan Peace and Red Deer river systems — lifelines for communities, agriculture, and ecosystems across southern Alberta.

Once Elections Alberta receives the petition packages, officials will begin the formal verification process. If the petition is validated, the initiative will proceed to the next stage outlined under the Citizen Initiative Act.