The top story in the Saturday, June 25, 2005 online edition of the Missoulian . . .
[This is yet another first-rate piece of work by Michael Jamison. The full article includes a tidy summary of past and present diplomatic initiatives regarding transboundary water quality. Recommended.]
After months of missives volleying back and forth across the international border, Montana's governor is thinking it might be time for a face-to-face chat with his counterpart in British Columbia.
"Maybe now it's time to set up a meeting between the governor and the premier," said Mike Volesky. "We've been talking about that, and it's something I think we'd like to see happen."
Volesky, who is natural resources policy adviser to Gov. Brian Schweitzer, met Friday with members of the Flathead Basin Commission. The commission was created in 1983 by the Montana Legislature, charged with monitoring and protecting Flathead water quality.
Read the entire article . . .
We've added a link for the International Joint Commission to the "Related Links" section of the sidebar. Water quality issues arising from the current mining and coalbed methane activities at the Canadian end of the North Fork drainage fall under the IJC's purview. It is likely they will be asked to examine the situation in the near future.
From the IJC's web site . . .
"The International Joint Commission is an independent binational organization established by the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909. Its purpose is to help prevent and resolve disputes relating to the use and quality of boundary waters and to advise Canada and the United States on related questions."
From the Sunday, June 19, 2005 online edition of the Billings Gazette . . .
"Fast track" environmental regulations may enable a Canadian mining company to establish a coal mine in the northern reaches of the Flathead River system before Montana's environmental concerns are ever addressed, some mine critics say.
But the president of the Cline Mining Corp. on Saturday denied that the company is trying to avoid a thorough environmental review. Ken Bates said the type of permit for which the company ultimately applies depends on how big it foresees the mine will be.
Read the entire article . . .
From the Sunday, June 19, 2005 online edition of the Missoulian . . .
A new plan to "fast track" coal mining north of Glacier National Park would leave no time to collect the scientific information necessary to gauge the mine's downstream impact.
"I think there's a very strong concern that we would not be able to collect the needed baseline data," said Rich Moy, chairman of the Flathead Basin Commission.
The state commission was formed in the 1980s to watch over the international watershed pouring south from British Columbia into Montana's Flathead Valley. At the time, coal mining was proposed not far from Glacier Park's northern border, and downstream interests worried pollutants would flow south into Flathead Lake.
Federal agencies in the two countries eventually sent the dispute to the International Joint Commission, a bi-national group established by treaty to resolve transboundary water disputes.
The IJC ruled against the mine in 1988, saying it could pollute Montana waters and affect fisheries that span the border.
Moy was secretariat to the IJC's U.S. Investigative Board at the time, and has since watched several development proposals come and go in the Canadian Flathead - including an active plan to mine coal in the headwaters of the North Fork Flathead River.
Through it all, he said, Montana has consistently asked for one thing: a comprehensive study of baseline conditions, so any future degradation could be quantified.
Recently, Gov. Brian Schweitzer asked for exactly that, requesting the two countries recommend a sweeping IJC review of water quality and other environmental conditions in the Canadian Flathead.
Several analysts, including British Columbia's own consultants, have agreed that collecting the data would require a minimum of three years.
But Cline Mining Corp., which has been drilling exploratory holes in the headwaters of the Flathead, now says it will have all mining infrastructure in place and be hauling commercial coal in 15 months.
Read the entire article . . .
The North Fork Preservation Association's Summer 2005 Activity Schedule is now available.
Please inform the webmaster of any errors or omissions.
From the Friday, June 17, 2005 online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .
A Canadian mining company is poised to exploit "fast track" environmental regulations to establish a mine in the northern reaches of the Flathead River system, well before Montana's environmental concerns are ever addressed.
Cline Mining Corp. recently filed a "material change report" under Canada's securities laws, announcing plans to apply for a small-mine permit for a mining site in the Foisey Creek basin, a tributary of the North Fork of the Flathead River, by the end of this year.
Montanans concerned about mining in the Canadian Flathead had been under the impression that Cline intended to pursue a large-scale mining permit, which would require a lengthy environmental review process. The small mine permit involves far fewer requirements.
"The small-mine permit is the fast-track approach," said Steve Thompson, the Glacier field representative for the National Parks Conservation Association. "It's basically a shell game. They launch the mine, build the infrastructure under a small-mine permit, get production going and turn around and immediately begin the process for developing it into a large mine."
The small-mine permit limits extraction to 250,000 tons of coal per year. To obtain the permit, Cline must submit an "internal" environmental review without any required public involvement process.
The process is "superficial nonsense," according to David Thomas, a Fernie City Council member and communications director for the Canadian conservation group Wildsight.
"It's very clear what the strategy is here," Thomas said. "The government is in collusion with the mining companies on this. By eliminating the need for environmental assessments for small mines, the companies can go in freely and disturb all the land they need to, and then pursue a large-scale mine."
The province's regulations for large mines do indeed require a much more involved environmental assessment process that can take up to two years to complete.
Read the entire article . . .
From the Thursday, June 16, 2005 online edition of the Whitefish Pilot . . .
Two chunks of mountainous land have been recommended for proposed wilderness designation in the Flathead National Forest's proposed Forest Plan.
Located near the Canada border on the east side of the Whitefish Divide, the Tuchuck and Thompson-Seton roadless areas lie within the 171,100-acre Winton Weydemeyer Wilderness proposed by the Montana Wilderness Association.
The Forest's recommendation was announced Monday during an open house introducing the new Forest Plan. Hungry Horse/Glacier View ranger Jimmy DeHerrera said the recommendation reflects a snowmobile-use agreement that emerged out of a lawsuit MWA brought against the Forest.
The wilderness recommendation in the Forest Plan does not include non-conforming uses, such as Forest Service roads that access the upper reaches of Trail Creek or the Tuchuck Campground. DeHerrera said the Forest Plan could be completed by December 2006.
Portions of the proposed wilderness area lay within the Kootenai National Forest. Fortine Ranger District ranger Betty Holder said the Kootenai's plan is on a similar time schedule as the Flathead's. She said their Forest Plan will be first presented to the public at an open house in the Lincoln Electric Cooperative's meeting room in Eureka on July 7 at 6:30 p.m.
Ultimately, Congress must decide on wilderness designation, and an unwritten agreement calls for unanimous support by each state's Congressional delegation before Congress will create a new wilderness area in that state.
Read the entire article . . .
(Note that the full article includes a map and a nice capsule bio of Winton Weydemeyer.)