He has released 11 albums, tours regularly in Canada, the United States and Australia and has been nominated for five Juno Awards, winning once.
Corb Lund, a sixth-generation Albertan, is also a longtime, vocal opponent of coal mining in the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains.
On Wednesday he filed an application with Elections Alberta to conduct a “citizens initiative petition,” calling for the provincial government to put an end to any plans to allow coal mining in the eastern slopes.
Corb Lund is a sixth generation Albertan, Canadian country music star and long-time outspoken opponent of coal mining in the eastern slopes of Alberta’s Rocky Mountains.
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Lund, who still lives and ranches in Taber area, near the banks of the Old Man River, downstream from the coal mines would be located, 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.
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“It’s called CIMI, it’s called the Coal Industry Modernization Initiative, which so far has only been consulting industry and not conservation groups, not the public,” said Lund.
Lund says he first got the idea for a petition when he attended a town hall on coal mining in Fort Macleod on June 11.
“Some of the relevant ministers were there, and Premier Smith was there. It was pretty rowdy,” says Lund.
“People weren’t in favour of the coal mines, and she got up and said, well, if you people don’t want coal mines, you should start a citizens initiative. So I did that. I got a team together. I got lawyers. I got a ground team.”
Corb Lund says he decided to start a petition against coal mining after he was challenged to do so by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith during a contentious town hall in Fort Macleod in June.
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The specific question in Lund’s petition reads: “The government of Alberta shall prohibit by law any and all new coal mining activities, including new approvals and permits, within the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains.”
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Lund expects to hear back from Elections Alberta within a week or two whether or not his application for a petition has been approved.
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Until then he can’t start collecting signatures.
“We can’t start our website campaign or our email stuff or signing up people until we’ve been approved by Elections Alberta, which we anticipate will be a week or two,” said Lund.
Lund says according to the rules he’ll have four months to collect 177,000 signatures, but he’d like to get twice that. “An overwhelming response.”
Lund is hopeful the provincial government would then honour the will of Albertans.
“Nobody wants this thing, except for a handful of people,” said Lund. “It’s not politically popular. It’s toxic.”
2:27
Alberta Energy Regulator approves Grassy Mountain coal exploration
Global News has reached out to the Alberta premier’s office for a response to Lund’s citizen’s initiative petition and did not receive a response.
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However, speaking to reporters at the legislature in Edmonton on Thursday, Alberta Minister of Minister of Energy and Minerals Brian Jean said he doesn’t think the petition makes sense.
“I think coal is a great resource if we mine it properly, why wouldn’t we be able to mine it and get the value of that resource to people in Alberta,” said Jean.
“Metallurgical coal is a critical mineral — and Alberta’s posed to be a very major player in the development of metallurgical coal. If we do it right we could see an amazing amount of royalty dollars coming into the people of Alberta,” Jean added.
Speaking to reporters at the legislature on Thursday, Alberta’s Minister of Energy and Minerals, Brian Jean, said the government will let the petition “take its course,” but he thinks “coal is an amazing resource.”
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“We’ve already stopped any mountaintop removal, we stopped any open-hood mines in the Eastern Slopes.”
“We’ve taken the steps that we found Albertans wanted us to take. We’re going to make sure that the waterways are protected, animals and humans are going to be protected, and make sure the mines opened up under the new framework are done to the expectation of Albertans.
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“Safety of water and safety of people and safety of animals.”
In February, a coalition of ranchers, farmers and landowners released the results of an Ipsos poll that showed less than a quarter of Albertans support coal mining in the province.
2:21
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith addresses coal concerns during town hall
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