Alberta country music artist Corb Lund says his team has collected enough signatures to compel the province to take action to stop coal mining on the eastern slopes of the Rockies.
Lund didn’t say how many signatures were received, but almost 178,000 were required.
The next step is to hand the names over to Elections Alberta for verification.
In a Monday news release, Lund said he will do that on the final official day of the petition campaign, which is Wednesday.
“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,” he said.
The petition asked signers to endorse prohibiting new coal mining in the Rockies on the grounds it needlessly risks harm to the environment, particularly to water.
A successful petition would force Premier Danielle Smith’s government to consider passing a law banning coal mining or sending it to a provincewide referendum.
For the past four months, Lund’s effort — dubbed “Water Not Coal” — has gathered signatures at events, including a multi-day horseback ride from Longview to Edmonton.
The group said it registered more than 3,000 canvassers.
