Edmonton, Alta. (Rural Roots Canada) – Alberta musician and rancher Corb Lund has delivered his ‘Water Not Coal‘ petition to Elections Alberta, with more than 200,000 Albertans having signed it.

That means the petition has reached the signature threshold required to force a provincial referendum on coal development in the province’s Eastern Slopes, a major milestone after years of advocacy and public engagement, according to organizers.

“It’s a relief,” Lund tells Rural Roots Canada. “We didn’t really know until the last week, for sure, how many we had.”

The citizen-led petition, which opposes coal mining in environmentally sensitive mountain and watershed regions, collected signatures from across Alberta. Lund says support extended well beyond southern Alberta.

“I think we got signatures from 84 out of 87 ridings,” he says. “It’s completely, really broad.”

Lund dropped off the petition at Elections Alberta in Edmonton in a pickup truck hauling a horse trailer full of bins with signed petitions. Campaign organizer and rancher Laura Laing says those bins represent months of work by volunteers.

“It was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears in those bins,” says Laing. “It was a pretty cool moment.”

The petition demands that the province stop all new coal mining and exploration in the Eastern Slopes of the Rockies, including the Grassy Mountain and Blackstone projects.

The campaign now turns its attention to a potential referendum expected later this year.

Both Lund and Laing say their immediate concern is ensuring the referendum question remains unchanged from the version approved by Elections Alberta and signed by petition supporters. The campaign specifically wants references to the Grassy Mountains and Blackstone projects maintained in the referendum wording.

“We’re watching them like hawks,” Lund warns.

The two remain skeptical despite repeated public statements from Premier Danielle Smith that the referendum will proceed.

“After six years of dealing with folks, I don’t know what to count on, honestly,” Lund says.

The campaign’s opposition to Grassy Mountains remains a central issue.

RELATED: New Poll Finds Little Support for Coal Mining in Alberta’s Eastern Slopes

Laing argues that multiple regulatory bodies have already rejected the project, and it should not be back on the table for consideration.

“Grassy Mountain was found to be not in the public interest by the provincial AER (Alberta Energy Regulator) and courts of appeal,” she explains. “It was a dead project … here we are fighting the same coal mine years later. It’s really frustrating.”

Much of the campaign’s messaging has focused on agriculture and water security. Those opposed to the mining projects point to Alberta’s irrigation network, agricultural production, and food-processing industries, which could be exposed to increased risks from selenium contamination associated with coal mining.

“We keep saying to ourselves, I don’t get it. Why?” says Laing, questioning why Alberta would risk established agricultural industries for what she describes as limited economic returns.

Lund said concerns extend beyond water quality to water availability.

“Northback, the company behind Grassy Mountain, has been telling us for years they don’t need any more water, that they got it all covered,” Lund says. “We’ve been asking them, where is it going to come from? They said, ‘Oh, don’t worry, we don’t need any of your water. And just this year, they applied for a massive water allocation.”

In Lund’s view, the issue comes down to weighing the interests of local residents against those of foreign-owned mining companies.

“On one side, you’ve got a classic, foreign millionaire who’s lobbying the hell out of the government to get the government to regulate in favour of them instead of citizens,” Lund says.

“On the other hand, fighting this, you’ve got people like Laura, who’s got cattle to raise, and me, I’ve got some music to make, and we’re not making a dime off this. And the other side stands to make a ton of money off our coal, right?”

Despite the frustration, Laing says the campaign helped build community and a network of supporters across the province.

“They built a community and met friends and sort of like-minded people,” she says. “It was a positive experience to be part of.”

That support was on display during a recent horseback ride from the Foothills to Edmonton, culminating in a rally attended by hundreds of people.

Laing and Lund say the campaign is prepared for a long and nasty fight, if necessary.

“The fight’s getting nastier,” says Laing. “We’re now seeing things, accusations of things that just simply aren’t true, but that’s okay. We’re up for it, and we’re to talk about facts, whether it’s the facts of the coal mine, what we know about the science, and what Albertans want to see for our ag lands and the eastern slope.”

“We’re not partisan about this; this isn’t an attack on any particular party,” explains Lund. “We’re trying to fix this problem. A huge majority of Albertans don’t want coal mines down there, and we get this adversarial, argumentative attitude.”

He offers a reminder about the role elected officials play in all of this.

“They are our employees. Do what we tell you to do because you’re our employees. I’ve told them that at meetings. They didn’t like it very much, but they work for us.”