CALGARY — Corb Lund’s Water Not Coal petition is entering its final stretch as the country music singer and a group of Southern Alberta ranchers rode into Calgary to raise awareness about coal mining in the Rockies on the weekend. Speaking at The Confluence on Sunday during day two of a three-day horseback ride from Longview up to Edmonton, Lund told the crowd of a couple hundred his petition was about protecting water and not partisan politics as organizers rush to get the roughly 178,000 signatures needed to trigger a possible referendum on coal mining in the Eastern Slopes in October.The three-day ride was aimed at drawing attention to concerns over projects such as the Grassy Mountain coal mine proposal in the Crowsnest Pass..“It’s just about protecting the water,” Lund told the crowd before launching into several of his songs.“I don’t care who does it. We just have to not have coal mines up there... I'm not anti-resource. I am not a fanatic.”Volunteers say they still do not know the exact number of signatures the petition has gathered so far — something Lund also reiterated.“We have a pretty good idea, and it's gonna be close,” Lund said.“I think we have it in the bag, but we really need this last three weeks to push it over the line and be decisive because we can't afford to lose this... So we have to assume the worst to keep pushing."Lund emerged as the public face of the Water Not Coal campaign in early 2026..According to founder Laura Laing — who delivered a two-and-a-half-minute land acknowledgement at Sunday’s event — the movement goes back to 2020 when the Alberta government rescinded the province’s long-standing 1976 coal policy, which opened large areas of the Eastern Slopes up to potential development.The decision has since triggered backlash from ranchers, First Nations, environmental groups, and urban residents.The Grassy Mountain project — proposed by Northback Holding Co., a Canadian subsidiary of Australian mining giant Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd. — received 72% support in a 2024 non-binding referendum from Crowsnest Pass residents, but has been one of the main points of contention for the Water Not Coal campaign.While supporters of the project see it as a chance to revive jobs in the region and curb the outflow of young workers to neighbouring BC, where mines continue to operate, Lund believes the project’s approval could pave the way for broader coal expansion in the Rockies..“Somebody in the government really, really wants Grassy Mountain to go in,” Lund told the Western Standard.“We think that it’s the toehold and it’s going to expand from there because the first one is the hardest to stop, and they get harder to stop the more they put in there.”While Lund has repeatedly insisted the campaign is not partisan, questions have emerged about links between some canvassing events and NDP-related events listed on the Water Not Coal website, which the Western Standard has previously reported on.Lund denied any formal involvement by political parties such as the NDP when asked directly.“It’s not partisan,” Lund said of the campaign.“The way it works out is a lot of people vote NDP, and almost all of them tend to be against this, but we’re not involved with a political party.”He also stressed the campaign is entirely volunteer-driven and funded largely through donations and personal contributions from organizers and supporters, adding it had cost him “a lot of money.”.When asked about the multiple events related to the NDP appearing on the official Water Not Coal website, Lund said individual canvassers independently decide where to collect signatures and post appearances online.“The canvassers, it’s up to them where they want to collect signatures, and some of them go where the low-hanging fruit is,” he said.“When our canvassers are going to go to an event, they put it on the event list, and that’s all up to them.”Also, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society Southern Alberta previously stated Lund, CPAWS executive director Katie Morrison, and Livingstone Landowners Group president Bill Trafford had “banded together” to challenge the Alberta government over coal policy, while former CPAWS staff have also appeared connected to Water Not Coal canvasser organizing efforts.But, Lund said he has not formally partnered with groups such as the CPAWS, saying they were “not officially” involved in the campaign, but he did acknowledge speaking with various conservation organizations, coal executives, and government ministers as part of the initiative.“We’re not giving up on [the petition] and we’re not letting go of this until we get proper legislation in place,” he told the crowd on Sunday.The petition’s deadline for submission to Elections Alberta is June 10.
