Corb Lund says he is disappointed, but is vowing to continue his fight against coal mining in the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains.
In early December, Lund was told his petition demanding the province pass a law banning coal mining on the eastern slopes had been approved by Elections Alberta, giving him the go-ahead to start collecting signatures.
But just days later, the UCP government passed Bill 14, which made changes to the citizen petition process, and Lund was told his petition was no longer valid and he’d need to resubmit it.
Canadian country music star Corb Lund is a sixth-generation Albertan who lives in the Taber area, downstream from the headwaters of the Old Man River, where some of the new coal mines could be located.
“I’m not sure legally how that works, how you can retroactively cancel something that’s been approved already?” said Lund.
“But I feel the most disappointing thing is, Premier Smith said a few weeks ago on television after hearing about the approval of our petition — she said she’s a big supporter of citizens’ initiatives and that she’ll be watching closely and that the rules are out there, so we’ll see what happens. And then they change the rules overnight,” said Lund.
“I’m surprised they can have this little shame.”
Lund is a sixth-generation Albertan who lives and ranches in the Taber area, downstream from the headwaters of the Old Man River, where some of the coal mines could be located.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
The vast area of mountains, streams and meadows is home to threatened species such as grizzly bears and bull trout and contains the headwaters for much of the fresh water in the southern Prairie provinces.
Lorne Fitch is a retired provincial fish and wildlife biologist who claims to have more than 50 years of experience dealing with coal exploration, development and reclamation.
“That experience showed that in that 50-year span of time of work in this area of the eastern slopes on these issues, not one coal mine — not one coal mine ever successfully dealt with runoff,” said Fitch.
Retired Alberta fish and wildlife biologist, Lorne Fitch, says in his 50 years working on coal mining issues in the Rocky Mountains, he has not seen one mine that has successfully dealt with runoff.
Global News
“The cost of failure of a coal mine having significant or catastrophic problems is so great that (we) just cannot afford to have coal mining proceed, particularly in sensitive watersheds like the Old Man that that provide not only downstream water drinkers with a reliable supply of clean water, but also support a very robust agricultural community, as well as a native trout fishery that is the ultimate signal for whether or not our land use practices are appropriate or not,” Fitch added.
Asked for a response to the concerns of coal mining opponents, the press secretary for Alberta’s Minister of Energy and Minerals, Brian Jean, sent Global News a statement that says:
“We will not speculate as to the result of individual citizen initiative petitions, our legislation is designed to ensure the voice of Albertans is heard, and Corb Lund will have this opportunity.”
“Our government is finalizing rules that will modernize the coal mining industry. Further, we are prioritizing the protection of our water and environment in any coal application.”
In May 2025, the Alberta Energy Regulator approved Northback Coal’s exploration plan for the Grassy Mountain area, located just north of Crowsnest Pass in the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains.
Global News
Lund vows he will resubmit the petition. With his supporters, he created a website seeking volunteers to help. He says he is “exasperated” by the behaviour of provincial elected officials.
“It’s made me lose my faith in what I thought was a democracy,” said Lund. “We’ve been accused of all kinds of stuff, like being foreign-funded and environmental whack jobs, and you know, it’s just not true. There’s no hidden agenda. All we are trying to do as working Albertans is stop coal mining in the headwaters. That’s all we are trying to do. There’s nothing more to it than that.”
Asked if he had any other message for the provincial government about the possibility of coal mining in the eastern slopes, Fitch was succinct, saying, “What part of no don’t you understand?”
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
