High River's Mayor is pretty impressed by a group of students at Holy Spirit Academy who've signed a petition opposing open pit coal mining on the eastern slopes of the Rockies.

A total of 94 students signed the petition.

High River Mayor Craig Snodgrass says he was really impressed that the kids took time to learn about it.

"All of the work that we are doing right now to get this coal mining stopped is not going to change a darn thing for my generation or my parents generation but it will change everything if it doesn't go the right way for my kids and these younger generations because the coal mining isn't going to affect the Highwood River watershed for probably, who knows, but probably a few decades, but the fact is I do not want these kids having to deal with this just because we didn't want to at the time."

He says the town will put in every bit of energy they can to make sure the mining program stops.

"I can probably put on one hand the number of people that I've been approached by that are pro-coal and think what we're doing in ridiculous but I also do not care," Snodgrass says. "This generation of kids that are coming up, this is so critical what we're doing now and the ones that are pro-coal are very, very shortsighted, they're now looking at all into the future generations, they're looking at 'what can I access out of this program right now' and it's a very short term thought process with very, very, very long term consequences that come with it.

He says the future problems that come with coal mining are inevitable.

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