North Fork Preservation Association

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Potential industrial development in the Canadian Flathead drainage is gaining a higher profile in British Columbia, with possible environmental consequences that would counter international law, Canadian speakers said at a gathering Monday in Whitefish.

Speaking to the Flathead Coalition Monday night about mining projects in British Columbia north of Glacier National Park, an expert in international water and energy law told concerned valley residents that legal precedent is on the side of Montanans.

Two ambitious energy exploration projects in western Canada are raising fears among US environmentalists of irreversible ecological damage to a pristine expanse of the famed Rocky Mountains.

Another skirmish is brewing in the continuing battle between British Columbia and Montana over potential resource development north of the border and its impact on rivers flowing into the United States.

Several Montana conservation groups are concerned about plans to expand a coal-bed methane operation with continued discharge of wastewater into an Elk River tributary.

Montana’s senior U.S. senator and several conservation groups said Friday they are alarmed anew about prospects for industrial work in southeastern British Columbia, north of Montana’s Glacier National Park.