Alberta singer Corb Lund has been given the go-ahead to start collecting signatures for a petition to ask the province to pass a law banning new coal mining on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains.
Elections Alberta posted the official OK on its website.
Lund has received multiple Juno and Canadian Country Music Association nominations and awards and is also a longtime, vocal opponent of mountain coal mining in southern Alberta.
A sixth-generation Albertan, Lund lives and ranches in Taber area, near the banks of the Old Man River, downstream from where mines would be located.
The vast area of mountains, streams and meadows is home to threatened species such as grizzly bears and contains the headwaters for much of the fresh water in the southern prairies.
It has also been logged and mined for decades. The region produces metallurgical coal for steel-making, not power generation.
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Lund says he’s been fighting against coal mining for more than five years, but the campaign took on new urgency with news the government is developing a new coal mining policy.
Lund has said he’s seeking the intervention as new mines could threaten land and water in the area.
He needs to gather signatures equal to 10 per cent of votes cast in the last general election — almost 178,000.
If successful, the legislature would consider passing a law to ban coal mining or send it to a provincewide vote.
Alberta Minister of Minister of Energy and Minerals Brian Jean last month said he doesn’t think the petition makes sense.
When asked about the petition in the Alberta legislature, Jean noted the “amazing amount of royalty dollars” mining metallurgical coal could bring into Alberta’s coffers.
With files from Ken MacGillivray and Karen Bartko, Global News
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