From the Wednesday, July 28, 2004 issue of the Helena Independent Record . . .
British Columbia is persisting with its sale of coal-bed methane leases north of Glacier National Park despite Gov. Judy Martz's appeal for Canadian federal officials to halt the effort, a provincial official said Tuesday.
"British Columbia regulates oil and gas activity in the province," Minister of Energy and Mines Richard Neufeld said. "We've done that for over 50 years and see no reason why that should change."
"Does the federal government in the United States get involved in all the actions that happen in the state of Montana?"
Neufeld's comments came a day after Martz asked Canada's environmental and foreign affairs officers to defer the Aug. 25 sale of coal-bed methane leases by the province and order an environmental assessment.
Read the entire article . . .
July 26, 2004
Dear Ministers,
The United States and Canada, including the State of Montana and the Provinces of British Columbia and Alberta, have a long history of cooperation and consultation related to management of the region in and around Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. This cooperation dates back to the establishment of Waterton-Glacier as the world’s first international peace park in 1932.
British Columbia’s recent posting for public auction of coalbed methane leases on August 25 has prompted additional discussions between Montana and British Columbia. Through these discussions, we have learned of differing approaches between the state and province toward planning and assessment.
Montana’s interest is that any activities related to CBM in this transboundary region, including the Flathead and Kootenay watersheds, do not adversely impact the downstream waters, wildlife, communities and economies of Montana.
In a letter to Premier Gordon Campbell, the State of Montana has requested establishment of a joint U.S.-Canadian review panel, potentially through the International Joint Commission, to conduct a full environmental baseline analysis and prepare a comprehensive environmental and socio-economic assessment. We have asked Premier Campbell to defer any actions on coalbed methane projects until a comprehensive assessment is completed. In this, we join with such diverse interests as the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce, Senators Conrad Burns and Max Baucus, Representative Dennis Rehberg and the inter-agency Flathead Basin Commission, among others.
In our recent consultation with British Columbia, they have indicated that the successful bidder on this CBM sale will be responsible for addressing environmental concerns and stakeholder consultations. However, our concern is that ground-disturbing activities and wastewater discharge is likely to commence before an environmental baseline is established and before a comprehensive assessment is completed.
Further, we believe that in the event that different companies win the tenures on the different parcels offered for sale now and in the future, the opportunity for a comprehensive assessment would be lost. Further, the vesting of private property rights in these currently public resources will unnecessarily complicate any future assessment.
Now is the time to evaluate the various development alternatives in the East Kootenay coal fields, including the full field development of 21 TCF that British Columbia has identified as a preferred scenario. This assessment also might include the federal Dominion Coal Block, which is located between the two parcels currently up for auction by British Columbia.
This is similar to the approach taken in the United States. On the Lewis and Clark National Forest, for example, the U.S. Forest Service conducted a programmatic environmental assessment prior to a decision about oil and gas leasing on hundreds of thousands of acres along the Rocky Mountain Front.
We note that federal land-management agencies in the United States should also be directly engaged in a similar assessment for potential coalbed methane development in the transboundary watersheds on our northern border with British Columbia, since the federal government is the majority land owner in both the Flathead and Kootenay basins in Montana.
Although we continue to support the establishment of an environmental review panel through the International Joint Commission, we also recognize an opportunity for the two ministries that you represent to initiate a federal environmental assessment under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. In particular, we cite Section 47 of this Act, which allows a foreign state or a subdivision thereof (i.e., the State of Montana) to initiate this reference through a request to the Canadian Minister of Environment. That is our intention with this letter. We further note that the Environmental Assessment act indicates that such an assessment “will be carried out as early as practicable in the planning stages of those projects.”
We request that the Canadian federal and provincial governments defer the August 25 auction of CBM tenures and any ground-disturbing activities and wastewater discharge until such time as a complete environmental baseline is established and a comprehensive assessment completed through a joint review panel involving technical experts and resource scientists representing both nations.
Feel free to contact my Natural Resource Policy Advisor, Todd O’Hair at (406) 444-5554 or Jan Sensibaugh, Director of the Department of Environmental Quality at (406) 444-6815.
Sincerely,
JUDY MARTZ
Governor
cc: Premier Gordon Campbell
Secretary of State Colin Powell
Sen. Conrad Burns
Sen. Max Baucus
Rep. Dennis Rehberg
From the Thursday, July 22, 2004 issue of the Daily Inter Lake . . .
A troublesome slump on the long and winding North Fork Road is getting some attention from a special committee established by Flathead County and the Flathead National Forest.
The Resource Advisory Committee is charged with identifying projects and funding them with a specific pool of money.
This year, the committee allocated $350,000 to 10 projects, most notably $140,000 steered toward work on the North Fork Road.
About $75,000 will be spent on realigning a section of road that has been slumping. The project will involve construction of about three quarters of a mile of new road to the west of the existing road.
The problem portion of road is north of Polebridge near the Sondreson Community Hall.
The project, which is being cooperatively administered by the forest and the county, is expected to reduce sediment into the adjacent North Fork Flathead River.
Read the entire article . . .
From the Tuesday, July 20, 2004 issue of the Missoulian . . .
KALISPELL - A Canadian decision not to study environmental impacts prior to selling coalbed methane leases appears to contradict an internal report commissioned by British Columbia's government.
Last week, a delegation from British Columbia told Montana leaders they would not conduct baseline scientific studies prior to selling methane fields north of Glacier National Park.
Gov. Judy Martz had requested upfront study, as had Montana's congressional delegation. They were joined in that request by the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce and the town council in Fernie, British Columbia. Also asking for baseline data collection prior to leasing was the Flathead Basin Commission, whose members include leaders from state, federal and tribal agencies.
And, it turns out, the province's own advisers also have called for the sort of baseline study British Columbia officials now say will not happen.
In a report prepared for the province's Ministry of Energy and Mines, staffers at Summit Environmental Consultants Ltd. concluded "it appears that there are relatively significant gaps in the availability of data and overall information in the following areas of environmental baseline investigations."
The report, released in April, goes on to cite data shortfalls with regard to air quality, climate, streamflow and water quality.
The findings by the Veron, B.C., consultants appear to contradict statements made by provincial officials, who assured Montana leaders last week that adequate baseline data did, in fact, exist.
Read the entire article . . .
From the Tuesday, July 20, 2004 issue of the Daily Inter Lake . . .
Gov. Judy Martz is asking the British Columbia government to withdraw plans to auction off leases for coal bed methane development in Elk River and Flathead basins until an environmental assessment is completed.
If the province doesn't comply, she plans to request the intervention of Canada's federal government under an obscure provision in the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.
"Given the extremely tight time frame for us to understand and evaluate potential impacts with respect to the Aug. 25, 2004, sale date of leases, I am exploring the possibility of asking the Canadian government to conduct an environmental assessment under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act prior to the sale of those leases," Martz wrote in a letter sent to British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell Monday.
Canadian officials visited Helena last week, reaffirming their plans to proceed with the Aug. 25 auction of "tenure" rights to coal fields in the Elk River basin, which leads to the transboundary Lake Koocanusa, and in the headwaters of Montana's Flathead River basin.
Read the entire article . . .
From the Tuesday, July 20, 2004 issue of the Hungry Horse News . . .
British Columbia announced late last week it would go ahead with tenure sales for the development of coal bed methane wells that could be located about 15 miles from Glacier National Park in the headwaters of the North Fork of the Flathead River.
The North Fork forms most of the park's western boundary and is protected as a Wild and Scenic River here in Montana.
In Canada, however, it doesn't enjoy the same protections.
A tenure sale gives a private company the gas rights to Crown-owned lands.
The environmental review of the development comes after the rights are sold, said Shawn Robins, spokesman for the British Columbia Ministry of Energy and Mines.
Coal bed methane extraction comes from pumping huge volumes of water out of coal seams underground. That relives the pressure on natural gas that then comes to the surface and is piped out of the area.
Both Canadians and Montanans have raised concerns about the development because of its potential impacts on fish and wildlife. Coal bed methane wells are spaced close together and require a network of roads and clearings to maintain. The concern is they could impact everything from grizzly bears to mountain caribou to fish stocks in the river.
Read the entire article . . .
On Saturday, July 17, the North Fork Preservation Association will doing trail maintenance by horse or mule on Mount Thompson Seton starting at the end of Whale Creek Road at 8:30 am. The trail workers will go up Inuya Creek to Mt. Thompson Seton and return by Ninko Creek.
This summer the North Fork Preservation Association has already cut out blowdowns on Trail 15 to Mount Thoma and Trail 19 to the saddle below Mount Tuchuck by the Canadian border. The organization does trail work because the Glacier View (North Fork) Ranger District of Flathead National Forest has very little money to maintain trails and the trails should be cleared.
If you have a horse or mule and would like to help, phone Frank Vitale evenings at 752-2909 or John Frederick at 888-5084.
This is the lead story in the Thursday, July 15, 2004 issue of the Missoulian . . .
HELENA - Officials from British Columbia told Montana leaders Wednesday they will not study the possible environmental problems of drilling for coal-bed methane near the headwaters of the Flathead River - as Gov. Judy Martz and the state's congressional delegation have requested.
A city official from Fernie, British Columbia - which also asked the provincial government to study the methane drilling - has now asked the state of Montana to go straight to Ottawa, the seat of Canadian government, with the state's requests for an environmental study.
Earlier this month, the government of British Columbia, which borders northwest Montana, announced it was auctioning the coal-bed methane exploration rights for two parcels of land north of Glacier National Park. One of the parcels contains the headwaters of the Flathead River, which runs south into some of the most prized wildlands in Montana and the United States - Glacier National Park, its surrounding national forests and Flathead Lake.
The auction ends Aug. 25.
Several British Columbia officials representing the province's Ministry of Energy and Mines, its Oil and Gas Commission and Water, Land and Air Protection ministry met Wednesday with Montana leaders to discuss the state's concerns with industrial activity just over the border from sensitive lands in the United States.
Save for the Waterton Peace Park in Alberta, most of the Canadian Rockies immediately north of Glacier National Park are not federally protected in Canada.
Read the entire article . . .
From the Thursday, July 15, 2004 issue of the Missoulian . . .
HELENA, Mont. - British Columbia's oil and gas commissioner said Wednesday that the province will go ahead with plans to auction parcels of coal-rich land near the U.S. border.
"We have two different countries, two different forms of government and two different roads" when it comes to coal-bed methane development, said Derek Doyle.
Doyle and other Canadian officials met with Montana resource officials to discuss the July 8 opening of an auction for "tenure," or rights to explore the potential for coal-bed methane drilling, on tracts north of Glacier National Park, at the headwaters of the Flathead River Basin.
Montana officials, along with the Montana-based Flathead Basin Commission, had asked for a bi-national environmental, social and economic study to examine impacts prior to the CBM project.
During a meeting later Wednesday, David Thomas, a member of the City Council in Fernie, British Columbia, said Montana should appeal to the Canadian government under that country's Environmental Assessment Act. A portion of the law allows neighboring territories to ask for a study when there are cross-border interests. Thomas warned that after Aug. 25, when the deals are expected to be sealed on the tracts, it might be too late to stop development.
Rich Moy, chief of the Montana Water Resources Bureau, said he thinks using the Canadian law is consistent with Montana's recent requests for a study.
Moy earlier showed Doyle and other Canadian officials the several-hundred page Environmental Impact Statement regarding coal-bed methane exploration in the Powder River Basin, suggesting that British Columbia could do something similar.
Read the entire article . . .
From the Saturday, July 10, 2004 issue of the Missoulian . . .
British Columbia's government has announced plans to auction off coalbed methane rights north of Glacier National Park, despite requests that environmental studies be completed before the leases are sold.
The auction period opened this week, and will close Aug. 25. The winning methane development companies will be granted "tenure," which not only gives them a five-year right to explore but also comes with an obligation to do so.
The exploration permits can later be upgraded to development permits as companies propose formal plans for the methane fields.
The plan to develop coal and coalbed methane in southeastern British Columbia has proved contentious on both sides of the international line. A previous proposal to strip mine coal some six miles from Glacier's northern border was scrapped this spring amid outcry from both Canada and the United States.
South of the border, residents worried that mining waste would flow downstream; the planned mine was to be built in the headwaters of the Flathead River system.
Those same headwaters flow out of the landscape now targeted for coalbed methane exploration.
Read the entire article . . .
From the Thursday, July 8, 2004 issue of the Hungry Horse News . . .
The Forest Service last week released its plan for salvaging timber from the Robert and Wedge Canyon fires of 2003--a plan that sets aside about 8,000 acres for grizzly bears.
The Robert Fire burned about 13,000 acres in the National Forest north of Columbia Falls, and the Wedge Canyon Fire burned about 21,526 acres of National Forest from Trail Creek south.
Of that acreage, the plan calls for salvage logging on about 5,800 acres. The timber should yield about 42 million board feet of lumber, the plan says.
The plan also calls for closing several miles of road, including decommissioning about 15 miles in the Canyon/ McGinnis Creek areas and placing a seasonal restriction on the McGinnis Creek Road proper.
[...]
To view the entire plan, which is more than 200 pages long complete with maps, go to the Flathead National Forest Web site at: http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/flathead/ and click on "NEPA Projects."
Read the entire article . . .
From the Thursday, July 1, 2004 issue of the Missoulian . . .
Flathead forests burned in the summer of 2003 could yield more than 40 million board feet of public timber, with new rules putting the harvest beyond the reach of some environmental appeals.
On June 25, Flathead National Forest officials announced a draft plan to salvage log areas burned by the Robert and Wedge Canyon fires last summer.
The Robert fire, north of Columbia Falls, covered about 52,900 acres, 13,100 of which are located on the national forest. The Wedge Canyon fire burned across some 54,400 acres, including 21,500 acres of national forest land near the Canadian border west of Glacier National Park.
The draft salvage plan calls for logging more than 3,000 acres on the Robert fire, with a target of 20 million board feet. On the Wedge Canyon fire, forest officials hope to log some 2,700 acres, resulting in 22 million board feet.
Nearly half of the logging would be accomplished with helicopters, using 45 landing sites, each up to 2 acres in size.
[...]
If you're interested...
The public has through Aug. 10 to comment on a Flathead National Forest proposal to salvage logs on lands burned by the Robert and Wedge Canyon fires in 2003. The proposal is available online at www.fs.fed.us/r1/flathead, under the "NEPA Projects" link. Those interested can write to the Glacier View Ranger District, P.O. Box 190340, Hungry Horse, MT 59919. Comments can also be sent via e-mail to comments-northern-flathead-hungry-horse-glacier-view@fs.fed.us. Forest officials have scheduled field trips of the planned salvage areas for July 17 and July 21. Call (406) 387-3800 before July 9 to reserve a spot.
Read the entire article . . .