January 19, 2007

The Cline Mining Corporation plans to remove an entire ridge above Foisey Creek

From the Thursday, January 18, 2007 online edition of the Bigfork Eagle (includes a nice aerial photo) . . .

Flathead Lake’s water quality, fisheries and area wildlife could be seriously degraded if a Canada-based mining company gets its way, officials told a group of about 40 at a public meeting in Kalispell Monday evening.

The Cline Mining Corporation plans to remove a mountain ridge in southeastern British Columbia, about 25 miles north of the U.S. - Canada border, to extract two million tons of coal per year for 20 years, Flathead Basin Commission chair Rich Moy said during the meeting. The Lodgepole mine would be built above Foisey Creek, a tributary of Canada’s Flathead River headwaters, which flows into the North Fork along the western boundary of Glacier National Park and into Flathead Lake.

Sen. Max Baucus and Gov. Brian Schweitzer spoke to about 180 people on the same topic at a similar meeting Monday morning. Each expressed concern over the mine’s possible damage to Montana.

Moy and other panelists expressed deep concern about the proposed mine’s probable impacts on the Flathead Valley.

Read the entire article . . .

Posted by nfpa at January 19, 2007 07:12 PM