From the Saturday, March 31, 2007 online edition of the Missoulian . . .
Canada's federal government has agreed to review a controversial coal mine proposal north of Glacier National Park, promising a far more exhaustive environmental analysis than currently planned.
“This is a major breakthrough,” said Barrett Kaiser, spokesman for Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. “We've been working toward this for a long, long time.”
At issue is a proposal to pull down a mountain in the headwaters of the Canadian Flathead River, sifting 40 tons of coal from the rubble. But the river flows south across the Montana border, forming the western boundary of Glacier Park before pouring into Flathead Lake.
Downstream interests have long said the mine would harm water, wildlife and fisheries south of the border.
In recent weeks, Baucus, the U.S. State Department and Gov. Brian Schweitzer had all appealed to Canada, asking for a more thorough environmental review than that planned by provincial officials in British Columbia.
On Friday, “Max met in person with the Canadian ambassador, specifically to discuss the mine,” Kaiser said.
Ambassador Michael Wilson surprised everyone at the meeting when he confirmed Canada's plans to initiate a federal-level environmental review of the mine.
Read the entire article . . .
An Associated Press article linked to in the Saturday, March 31, 2007 online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .
The environmental review for a coal mine planned in British Columbia and opposed in Montana is being ratcheted up, likely delaying the mine proposal by up to three years, said Sen. Max Baucus, whose goal is to have the proposal scrapped.
The Montana Democrat said Friday that Canada's ambassador to the United States, Michael Wilson, has confirmed the project proposed by Cline Mining Corp. will be reviewed at the federal level. Earlier plans called for a review at the provincial level.
Read the entire article . . .
From the Saturday, March 31, 2007 online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .
The Canadian federal government intends to pursue an environmental review of the Cline Mine, which could delay development by three years, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., announced Friday.
According to a press release from Baucus, the senator met with Canada’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Wilson, “who confirmed for the senator that the Canadian government plans to initiate a federal-level environmental review of the Cline Mining Company’s proposal to mine coal near the headwaters of the North Fork Flathead River, which runs into Flathead Lake in Montana.”
Read the entire article . . .
From the Monday, March 26, 2007 online edition of The Globe and Mail . . .
When Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park was established in 1934 it symbolized the "peace and friendship" that existed between Canada and the United States as the two countries united to protect some of North America's greatest Rocky Mountain wilderness.
Now, some 73 years later, the world's first international peace park has turned into a battleground as Montana and British Columbia fight over a proposed open-pit coal mine on the headwaters of the Flathead River, just outside the international park boundaries.
In a letter to federal Environment Minister John Baird, Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer is requesting a review under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act saying he has failed to get agreements from B.C. to adequately protect the Flathead River.
"This is an amazing development," Bob Peart, a strategic adviser to the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Committee, said yesterday.
"It's never happened before in Canadian history that a foreign state has demanded an assessment under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. I think this just shows you how seriously the U.S. is taking this threat. Montana's governor is reaching out and saying the Flathead is really, really serious business."
Read the entire article . . .
From the Monday, March 26, 2007 online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .
The Flathead Coalition will hold its 33rd annual meeting Tuesday at the Museum at Central School in Kalispell.
The event, starting at 6 p.m., will feature a presentation from Professor Brian “Barney” Reeves, an archaeologist with the University of Calgary.
Reeves, who has done 40 years of archaeological research in and around Glacier and Waterton national parks, will talk about “Native American History in the North Fork: 10,000 Years, Still Counting, Still Wild.”
The coalition is an alliance of American and Canadian community, tribal, business and conservation interests founded in 1975 with the mission of protecting the watersheds shared by British Columbia and Montana.
Read the entire article . . .
From the Friday, March 23, 2007 online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .
The federal government’s announcement that the Greater Yellowstone population of grizzly bears will be taken off the Endangered Species list predictably raises questions about delisting the Northern Continental Divide population.
The grizzly bear population that inhabits lands in and around Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex is larger than the isolated Yellowstone population, and it is connected to grizzly bears in Canada. But state and federal wildlife officials agree that population is years from being considered for delisting.
“We can understand why [the Yellowstone delisting] would create an expectation from the public here ... but the situation is different,” said John Fraley, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks public information officer for Northwest Montana.
Read the entire article . . .
From the Friday, March 23, 2007 online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .
Grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park no longer need Endangered Species Act protection, the federal government said Thursday.
The Yellowstone area of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho had an estimated 136 to 312 grizzlies when the species was listed as threatened in 1975, but has more than 500 of the bears today, the government said.
"The grizzly is a large predator that requires a great deal of space, and conserving such animals is a challenge in today's world," Deputy Interior Secretary Lynn Scarlett said in a statement announcing the decision. "I believe all Americans should be proud that, as a nation, we had the will and the ability to protect and restore this symbol of the wild."
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to issue a final rule on March 29 to delist the bears and the rule will take effect 30 days after it is published in the Federal Register, officials said. The Interior Department announced in 2005 that it intended to delist grizzly bears around Yellowstone.
Read the entire article . . .
From the Wednesday, March 14, 2007 online edition of the Hungry Horse News . . .
The Bush Administration has issued a warning to Canada on a proposal to mine coal north of Glacier National Park and Montana Sen. Max Baucus also is calling for further federal intervention.
Late last month Edward Alex Lee, Director of the Office of Canadian Affairs for the U.S. Department of State, sent a letter to Canadian officials, claiming “significant adverse environmental effects may occur in the United States,” should the mine go forward.
Cline Mining Corporation is proposing a massive open pit coal mine in the headwaters of the North Fork of the Flathead. The mine, in short, would take the top off a mountain about 22 miles north of Glacier National Park in the Foisey Creek drainage.
While state officials and residents on both sides of the border have raised red flags about the project, this is the first time officials from the Bush Administration have gotten involved. The mine has brought strong opposition on both sides of the border.
Read the entire article . . .
From the Wednesday, March 14, 2007 online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .
Although his original approach didn’t get past the committee level, Rep. Doug Cordier, D-Columbia Falls, says funding for continuing study of environmental conditions in the North Fork Flathead River corridor is advancing in another bill.
Cordier initially proposed a bill that would provide $318,000 to the Flathead Basin Commission to be used mostly for continuing “baseline study” of current conditions in the North Fork.
If a coal mine is developed in British Columbia’s Flathead, information gathered from the study would help Montana detect and quantify environmental impacts.
The bill was tabled in the House Appropriations Committee, but funding was included in another bill, House Bill 7, that provides grant funding for the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, which oversees the basin commission.
Read the entire article . . .
Text of a March 13, 2007 press release from the office of Senator Max Baucus . . .
BAUCUS WANTS INVESTIGATION INTO CANADA MINE PLAN
Senator Asks Secretary Of State Rice To Convene International Panel
March 13, 2007
(Washington, D.C.) - Montana Senator Max Baucus today called on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to initiate an investigation into the potential environmental consequences of a proposed coal mine in British Columbia, near Glacier National Park.
Baucus has been the leading opponent of the Cline Mining Company's proposal to mine coal on the headwaters of the North Fork Flathead River, which runs into Montana's Flathead Lake. He says there could be devastating consequences to Montana's fish, wildlife, and the recreation industry in the Flathead with "zero economic benefits or jobs for Montanans."
"Glacier National Park, the Flathead River system and the clean, clear waters of Flathead Lake serve as the backbone of the economy of northwestern Montana," Baucus wrote in a letter to Rice today. "This [mine] represents a renewed threat of degradation and destruction of social, environmental, and economic assets that are important to Montana.
"In the face of this threat," Baucus continued, "I strongly encourage you to request a hearing by the International Joint Commission on the current mining proposal. It is of the utmost importance to Montana's outdoor heritage, and our nation's environmental legacy, to stop this mine and protect the Flathead River basin."
The International Joint Commission is a panel of both American and Canadian experts charged with preventing and resolving international disputes between the U.S. and Canada. The panel was instrumental, at Baucus' urging, in defeating a similar mining proposal in the same area in 1988.
For the International Joint Commission to issue a finding on this case against the proposed coal mine, a hearing must be requested by the U.S. State Department, Baucus said.
"Montana has always regarded the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909, which formed the IJC, as an important tool," Baucus wrote. "The investigation I am requesting would be an effective way of bringing that tool to bear in defense of Montanans' right to a healthy environment."
In a letter late last week, the U.S. State Department said that if the Canadian mining proposal moves forward "significant adverse environmental effects" may occur in the United States." Baucus said the letter is a "huge step forward in our efforts to stop the mine," but noted an IJC investigation is needed.
Baucus is Montana's senior U.S. Senator and Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over international trade policy.
Baucus' letter to Secretary Rice to follow.
March 13, 2007
Dr. Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20520-0099
Dear Secretary Rice:
The North Fork of the Flathead River, which rises in Canada, serves as the western boundary of Glacier National Park when it enters Montana. It is a federal Wild and Scenic River, and it feeds into Flathead Lake, the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River. Glacier National Park, the Flathead River system and the clean, clear waters of Flathead Lake serve as the backbone of the economy of northwestern Montana.
In December 1988, in reply to a 1984 referral by Secretary of State George Schultz and Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs Joe Clark, the International Joint Commission (IJC) delivered a finding on a proposed coal mine in British Columbia. The mine was to be located on a tributary of the Flathead River that flows into Montana. The IJC unanimously concluded that pollution caused by the mine would constitute a breach of treaty obligations between the United States and Canada. Subsequently, the mine proponent withdrew the coal development proposal.
There is now another proposal on the table for a coal mine in the same area. This represents a renewed threat of degradation and destruction of social, environmental and economic assets that are important to Montana. In the face of this threat, I strongly encourage you to request a hearing by the International Joint Commission on the current mining proposal. It is of the utmost importance to Montana's outdoor heritage, and our nation's environmental legacy, to stop this mine and protect the Flathead River basin.
For the International Joint Commission to issue a finding on this case against the proposed coal mine, this hearing must be requested by the U.S. State Department. Montana has always regarded the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909, which formed the IJC, as an important tool. The investigation I am requesting would be an effective way of bringing that tool to bear in defense of Montanans' right to a healthy environment.
Montanans are outdoor people. We enjoy sharing our legacy of hunting and fishing with our children, and work hard to preserve our rivers, lakes, forests and rangelands for future generations.
This mining proposal presents serious risks to that valuable legacy in the Flathead River Basin and Glacier National Park. I look forward to the opportunity to bring international scrutiny to mining plans that would degrade some of Montana's most pristine bodies of water.
Thank you in advance for your assistance in requesting an International Joint Commission hearing on the Flathead Basin mining proposal. This is a critically important issue for Montanans. Please feel free to contact me or my staff if we can be of any assistance in bringing this matter to a speedy conclusion.
With best personal regards, I am
Sincerely,
Max Baucus
From the Monday, March 12, 2007 online edition of the Vancouver Sun . . .
A wild and unprotected river considered at risk from coal mining in southeastern B.C. heads the 120,000-member Outdoor Recreation Council's annual list of the top 10 most endangered rivers in the province.
The Flathead River flows through the "largest unsettled low-elevation valley" in southern Canada containing important fish and wildlife values, including perhaps the largest concentration of inland grizzly bears in North America, the council said in releasing its annual survey today.
"Some places are not appropriate to mine, and the Flathead is one of them," Mark Angelo, an Order of Canada recipient and chairman of the council's rivers committee, said in an interview.
Read the entire article . . .
From the Associated Press, posted late Saturday, March 10, 2007 . . .
The Bush administration is challenging a coal mine proposed in British Columbia, saying it poses an environmental threat that could extend south of the border.
The mine that Cline Mining Co. proposed just north of Glacier National Park could cause "significant adverse environmental effects" the United States, the U.S. State Department said in a letter to the British Columbia government.
Montana officials say the open-pit mine would jeopardize water quality in the Flathead area, which includes Flathead Lake and other waters popular for recreation. The Flathead River system spans the international border, and the north fork of the river is Glacier's western boundary.
The Flathead basin is "an area of unique and internationally recognized environmental importance," Edward Alex Lee, Canadian affairs director in the State Department, said in the Feb. 23 letter.
Kate Thompson, spokeswoman for the British Columbia Ministry of Environment, did not comment Saturday. Thompson said she intended to discuss the letter with Garry Alexander, the official to whom it was addressed.
Phone messages left for Cline were not returned Saturday.
Read the entire article . . .
From the Friday, March 9, 2007 online edition of the Washington Post . . .
The Bush administration has objected to a proposed open-pit coal mine in Canada near the Montana border, citing the potential for irreversible environmental damage to Glacier National Park, pristine trout streams and the largest natural lake in the West.
The objection -- in a Feb. 23 letter from the State Department to the provincial government of British Columbia -- comes after nearly six years of demands from elected officials in Montana for federal action to stop the mine.
The State Department letter has not been made public, but news of its existence was greeted on Friday as a significant breakthrough in an environmental quarrel that has created bad blood between British Columbia and Montana.
Read the entire article . . .
Premier Gordon Campbell announced on February 14 that B.C. would not allow surface water discharge from coalbed methane operations in the province. Reaction in the press was muted. The Flathead Coalition was very pleased.
British Columbia Turnaround On Coalbed Methane Waste Water Commended By Transboundary Conservation Alliance
Premier Gordon Campbell’s Ban on Surface Discharge Effectively
Dooms Large-Scale Methane Extraction in Rocky Mountains
FERNIE, British Columbia, February 23, 2007 -- The Canada-U.S. Flathead Coalition today commended British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell for his decision to ban the discharge of coalbed methane waste water into the environment.
“This welcome shift in government policy reflects the fact that British Columbians value their natural landscapes and water courses above short-term economic profit from the dirty extraction of gas and coal,” said Ted Ralfe of chairman of Fernie’s Citizens Concerned about Coalbed Methane and a director of the transboundary Flathead Coalition.
Citizens Concerned about Coalbed Methane and the Flathead Coalition have been working to bar the extraction of methane from B.C.’s Rocky Mountain coal seams since 2004. It was then that the government first promoted its now-reversed policy of permitting the surface discharge of contaminated waste water produced in the extraction of methane gas from coal deposits. Under Campbell’s new policy, any CBM operation must re-inject such wastewater into deep and leak-proof geological formations.
“We believe that the geological contortions underlying the Rocky Mountains make re-injection virtually impossible,” said Ralfe. “This means the effective end of prospects for coalbed methane extraction in the Rockies.”
John Poirier of Fernie, who represents Wapiti River Fly Fishers on the Flathead Coalition board of directors, said Campbell’s announcement is good news for native fish and anglers in the Elk, Wigwam and Flathead River valleys. “These waters are important range for our native trout in B.C. and Montana. Premier Campbell deserves praise for refusing to allow our rivers to be toxic dumping grounds for coalbed waste water.”
Flathead Coalition President Dave Hadden of Bigfork, Montana, said the cross-border citizen alliance, founded in 1975, has long believed that coal mining and coalbed methane drilling in the Flathead Valley are inappropriate. “Some places are too special for mining or drilling, and this is one of them. Our clean water and healthy fish and wildlife are environmental and economic assets more valuable than fossil fuels.”
Campbell also announced that any new coal-fired electricity plants in the province must capture and sequester 100 percent of carbon dioxide emissions. This, too, effectively kills current plans for two coal-fueled power plants in B.C., as well as the simmering ambitions of Elk Valley Coal to burn its lower-grade coal to generate electricity at its mine sites. There is no existing technology for the complete capture of carbon dioxide from coal fire emissions.
About The Flathead Coalition
The Flathead Coalition is a transboundary alliance of community, tribal, business and conservation interests, founded in 1975, with the mission of protecting the natural watersheds shared by British Columbia and Montana. The Coalition was re-energized in 2004 in response to proposals for open-pit coal mining and coalbed methane extraction in the Canadian headwaters area of the Flathead River.
For more information:
Ted Ralfe, Spokesman, Fernie Citizens Concerned About Coalbed Methane
250.423. 6844, tedlaw@shaw.ca
Dave Hadden, President, Flathead Coalition
406. 837-0783, paddler@centurytel.net
New methane rule moot for time being
A day after announcing new tighter environmental controls on coal-fired generating plants, the provincial government has added more teeth to its coalbed methane regulations.
However, a spokesman for Petrobank Energy and Resources Ltd., says it's too early to determine how this might impact the company's test wells in the Princeton area.
Premier Gordon Campbell announced Wednesday that B.C. will allow no surface discharge of "produced water" from coalbed methane operations in this province. Instead, this water must be injected back into the ground, well below any domestic water aquifer.
The government's standards also call for companies to use the most advanced, commercially viable technology to minimize land and esthetic disturbances. They must also fully engage local communities and First Nations in all stages of development.
Read the entire article . . .
Province institutes new coalbed methane regulations
A provincial government announcement last week that B.C. will require no surface discharge of water produced from coalbed methane developments will have no effect on the proposed project near Telkwa.
The project proponent, Norwest Corporation, had already said during the community consultation process they would be re-injecting wastewater.
With the announcement, B.C. has become the first jurisdiction in Canada to require no surface discharge of water produced from coalbed methane developments.
Read the entire article . . .
The potential mining activity on the Canadian Flathead has made it very important to conduct serious water quality monitoring and study in the watershed. Efforts to fund this through the Montana legislature began in mid-February.
U.S. opponents of B.C. mine call for water study
Residents of Montana opposed to plans for a coal mine in B.C. have asked the state to fund a study of the current water quality in the Flathead River, which flows from Canada into the U.S.
That way, they say, if the mine were built in the now-pristine valley just across the border in southeastern B.C., they would be able to measure any subsequent pollution on their side of the border.
State Senator Greg Barkus, who supports spending the $300,000 requested by a state agency for the study, said Montana needs a thorough analysis now, so they could prove the mine was polluting the river later.
Read the entire article . . .
North Fork funds debated in Legislature
The North Fork of the Flathead River runs clean and cold out of Canada, and a Columbia Falls legislator hopes to keep it that way.
Worried about the impact of a proposed open-pit coal mine just miles north of the British Columbia-Montana border, Rep. Doug Cordier wants the state to pay for serious studies of the area's water quality.
The data would be used to support Montana's argument that the Ontario-based Cline Mining Corporation's proposed two-mile open pit coal mine 25 miles northwest of Glacier National Park threatens the purity of the North Fork of the Flathead and Flathead Lake.
Read the entire article . . .
On February 6, Bill Bennett, British Columbia's mining minister, was forced to resign. Here's a sampling of the coverage.
Anti-U.S. comments lead Canadian mining official to resign
British Columbia's top mining minister stepped down this week amid outrage at his anti-American sentiments, and Montanans who have been negotiating with the province over controversial coal projects were not sorry to see him go.
“Mr. Bennett's resignation may clear the way for a more constructive government-to-government discussion,” said Dan Weinberg, a state senator from Whitefish.
Weinberg's district butts up against Bill Bennett's, with only the international boundary separating the two. A wider gulf, however, might be the ideological divide.
“Let me be very direct with you, as you were with me,” Bennett wrote in a Jan. 29 e-mail to a Canadian constituent. “It is my understanding that you are an American, so I don't give a s--t what your opinion is on Canada or Canadian residents.”
Bennett, 56, is a provincial lawmaker, a member of the Legislative Assembly, and until Tuesday he also held the Cabinet-level post of B.C. minister for mining. That put him in a position of influence regarding the Canadian Flathead, where companies have proposed various coal mining ventures.
Montanans have opposed those projects for decades, saying water quality and wildlife would likely be impacted in and around Glacier National Park.
Bennett has championed the mines, however, and has gone on the offensive with American lawmakers, including Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., whom he once said was not welcome in Canada.
Read the entire article . . .
B.C. official quits after anti-U.S. e-mail exchange
British Columbia’s minister of mines, Bill Bennett, was forced to resign Tuesday because of an e-mail exchange expressing anti-American sentiments.
Bennett is of interest in Montana because of his decision-making capacity about the future of mining in the Canadian Flathead. A wide range of organizations and agencies south of the border are staunchly opposed to mine development near the headwaters that feed Montana’s Flathead River system and Flathead Lake.
The now-infamous e-mail exchange, which was broadly dispersed in Montana, started with correspondence from Maarten Hart, president of the Fernie Rod and Gun Club. Hart, an American who has lived in Fernie for years, accused Bennett of favoring big-money game outfitters over resident hunters in determining big-game permit allocations in the southeastern part of the province.
While attending a mining conference in Vancouver, Bennett typed a flaming response.
Read the entire article . . .
Sometime in mid-February our Movable Type database got damaged, preventing us from posting new material. Unfortunately, this occurred when your friendly site manager was overburdened by high-priority projects. After spending a great deal of time this weekend trying to straighten this out, I finally threw up my hands and reset the web log.
So, as you can see, we are (re)starting with a clean slate.
I did manage to preserve the old content. Material posted prior to February 2007 can be found here.