December 22, 2006

BC launching review of Cline Mine

From the Friday, December 22, 2006 online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .

British Columbia is about to open a public-comment process on the terms and conditions that will be required of a proposed coal mine in the headwaters of the Flathead Basin.

But state and federal officials in Montana are unsatisfied with the draft “terms of reference” for the Toronto-based Cline Mining Co.’s Lodgepole Mine, so the state likely will conduct a public-comment process of its own.

Rich Moy, chairman of Montana’s Flathead Basin Commission, said the British Columbia provincial government essentially “ignored” recommendations that a Montana delegation submitted on the draft terms of reference.

“We’re appreciative that British Columbia allowed us to participate in the regulatory process regarding the Cline mine,” he said. “We would have hoped that British Columbia would have incorporated our comments, but they did not ... Basically, for the most part, they ignored our issues.”

So the basin commission and other groups in Montana are ramping up a campaign aimed at educating the public about potential ecological impacts that mining in the Canadian Flathead could have south of the border.

Read the entire article . . .

Posted by nfpa at December 22, 2006 01:21 PM