From the Friday, September 22, 2006 online edition of The Globe and Mail . . .
Fearing that an open-pit coal mine proposed for southeast British Columbia could lead to downstream pollution, three civic organizations in Montana have appealed to federal and state officials to begin water quality monitoring in the Flathead River Valley.
"We want to establish baseline water quality so that if those qualities change after the mine starts up, then there'll be no doubt of the source," John Frederick, president of the North Fork Preservation Association, said yesterday.
"We don't see how this mine can be done without causing some impact and it shouldn't be done if it's going to mess things up," said Mr. Frederick, whose organization is concerned about an open-pit coal mine planned by Cline Mining Corp., of Sudbury.
The company, which trades under the symbol CMK on the Toronto Stock Exchange, is proposing to remove two million tonnes of bituminous coal annually from the Lodgepole Coal Mine Project in the Crowsnest coalfield, about 50 kilometres southeast of Fernie, B.C.
The project has long been of concern in Montana, where there are fears pollutants will flow down the North Fork of the Flathead River, which forms the western boundary of Glacier National Park, in the U.S.
"They are going to produce tonnes of waste dirt. There is lots of rain and snow in that area and it will wash into the streams," Mr. Frederick said. "The overburden from that mine is going to get into the river and do some serious damage."
The North Fork Preservation Association, the North Fork Landowners' Association and the North Fork Compact, a group concerned with land management issues in Montana, have written to several U.S. senators and Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer.
In a joint statement released yesterday, the three groups say they are asking the politicians for "immediate and direct action in establishing water-quality monitoring capable of accurately and reliably detecting future pollution of the North Fork."
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