Your musical hero is fighting for the coulees.
Good morning from the coulees — the wind's up, the sky's wide, and Lethbridge has something to say.
Look, you might know Corb Lund's music. He's got that easy-going, storytelling way about him that just feels like southern Alberta. He sings about the prairies, about ranching, about the land. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that he's taking on the province and its plans for coal mining in the Eastern Slopes. What *is* surprising is that he’s taking the fight to court. Elections Alberta rejected a petition to ban new coal mining, saying it didn't meet the requirements for a referendum. Lund, along with a few others, says that’s just not right, and they’re asking a judge to review that decision.
### Why This Matters for Us
This isn't just some Calgary or Edmonton issue, not when we're sitting here at the edge of the *Sik-ooh-kotok* (which means "Blackfoot River" and is what we call the Oldman River here). That river starts up in those very mountains. The health of the Eastern Slopes and the headwaters directly affects the water we drink, the water that fills our irrigation canals that crisscross the landscape around Lethbridge, allowing all our crops to grow. If you've driven out past Picture Butte or up towards Coaldale, you know how vital that water is to everything here.
* **Water Quality:** Our river flows through those mountains. Any coal mining activity, especially with open-pit mines, raises serious concerns about contamination of our water supply. We rely on that water for everything.
* **Environmental Impact:** The coulees themselves are a delicate ecosystem. What happens upstream absolutely affects the balance downstream.
* **Democratic Voice:** Lund's challenge isn't just about coal; it's about whether the public's voice, expressed through a petition, was properly heard and respected by Elections Alberta.
We're a city built on this land, with the High Level Bridge spanning the very coulees that connect us to the broader prairie ecosystem. What happens in the mountains eventually makes its way down here. So, when someone like Corb Lund, who understands this landscape as well as anyone, steps up to protect it, that's something we pay attention to. It’s about more than just a legal fight; it’s about the future of our backyard.
Jolene Blackwater, MiTL Sports Desk.
The Morning Wire crew gets into stories like this every weekday — you can catch their take live at mornings.live.