From the Sunday, January 14, 2007 online edition of the Missoulian . . .
A controversial proposal to mine coal north of Glacier National Park continues to generate downstream concern, prompting public meetings in both Kalispell and Missoula this month.
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., will attend the first of those meetings, set for Monday morning in Kalispell. Organizers will collect comments on the scope of environmental assessment needed before a Canadian coal mine can be built in southeastern British Columbia.
The region has long been contentious, with the state and province sparring over the future of industrial development in sensitive watersheds. Two decades back, an international commission recommended mining plans be dropped there due to the likelihood of pollution flowing south of the border.
British Columbia's Flathead River Basin drains into Montana's North Fork Flathead River, a wild and scenic waterway forming the western edge of Glacier Park before spilling into Flathead Lake.
Montana officials have fought coal mine development there since the late 1970s.
The most recent proposal, by Cline Mining Corp., involves a mountaintop-removal mine generating 2 million tons of coal per year for 20 years. If approved, it would be built in the headwaters of the Flathead River system, about 20 miles north of the park.
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