Water Not Coal petition clears signature threshold
The campaign to ban coal mining on Alberta's eastern slopes has gathered 177,732 signatures, meeting the minimum required to force government action.
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The Water Not Coal campaign has reached the threshold needed to force the Alberta government to act on a provincial ban of coal mining on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains.
The petition hit 177,732 signatures — the minimum required under the Citizen Initiative Act — a milestone announced Monday by the campaign team. The signatures still need to be verified by Elections Alberta. Alberta musician Corb Lund, who spearheaded the effort, and Water Not Coal organizers plan to present the petition packages to Elections Alberta on Wednesday afternoon.
"Our canvassers really rose to the occasion the last few weeks, and so did the people of Alberta," Lund said Monday, noting signatures have been gathered from all but three of Alberta's 87 ridings.
The four-month campaign registered over 3,000 canvassers and held thousands of signing events across the province. If Elections Alberta verifies the signatures and the government adds the question to this fall's referendum, Lund hopes officials don't omit Northback Holding's Grassy Mountain project from the ballot. "It's very important that Grassy Mountain is included, because it's the thin edge of the wedge," he said.
Water Not Coal specifically targets the Grassy Mountain and Valory Resource's Blackstone projects, but the campaign argues coal mining threatens the entire eastern slopes region as well as other river systems. "This is a clear message from Albertans," said rancher Laura Laing, spokesperson for Water Not Coal. "People from every corner of the province — rural and urban, ranchers and anglers, farmers and business owners — came together to defend the Eastern Slopes through this petition."