Now BP Canada wants to drill coalbed methane wells in the Canadian Flathead.
From the Thursday, May 31, 2007 online edition of the Missoulian . . .
Brand-new plans to drill for coalbed methane in a wilderness valley north of Glacier National Park have Montana officials looking for a permanent solution to the decades-long debate over energy development in southeastern British Columbia.
“We're tired of fighting this project after project after project,” said Rich Moy. “What we need to develop is a long-term solution that protects the integrity of the Flathead River system.”
Moy is top boss at Montana's Water Resources Division, and over the past three decades has worked with five different governors to buffer the Flathead River basin from Canadian energy development just north of the border.
The ongoing international dispute first surfaced in the 1970s, when coal interests sought to expand open-pit mining operations into the Canadian Flathead. The river pouring south from that wilderness valley crosses the border to form the western boundary of Glacier National Park, before spilling into Flathead Lake.
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The North Fork Landowners' Association has a shiny, new web site with lots of good stuff in it. It covers NFLA activities, as well as topics of general interest to North Fork residents and visitors.
Visit the NFLA site at http://www.nflandowners.com/. You can also find a permanent link to them in our "Related Links" list.
From the Wednesday, May 23, 2007 online edition of the Flathead Beacon . . .
With U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wading into the issue, Montana has called in the big guns to combat the proposed Cline coalmine project in the headwaters of the Flathead River's North Fork in British Columbia.
At the urging of Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., Rice pressed the Canadian federal government last month to invoke a more stringent environmental assessment of the proposed mine's impacts than British Columbia's government requires.
As of this writing, the Canadian federal government has not yet formally invoked its environmental assessment act. Until it does, the B.C. government retains authority over the mine's permitting process.
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From the Thursday, May 17, 2007 online edition of the Missoulian . . .
(This is a follow-up to our posting last Tuesday. Ben Long is a well-known environmental writer from Kalispell.)
The latest and last chapter in the story of Ben Long's popular book has, much to the author's surprise and delight, a very happy ending.
"It won't be destroyed," Long said of his book. "We've negotiated a solution."
Long's award-winning book, published in hardcover and to critical acclaim in 2000, tells the story of the Lewis and Clark trail. It's a story of America's natural history, of what was, of what's been lost and of what yet remains.
But a couple years back, when his publisher printed a soft-cover edition of "Backtracking: By Foot, Canoe and Subaru Along the Lewis and Clark Trail," the cover art was changed to include a portion of the famous Corps of Discovery image, a silhouette of the explorers pointing off into the distance.
It's an iconic image, immediately recognizable. It's appeared on road signs for some 40 years. And since 1999 it's been owned and protected by the National Park Service.
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Some coverage of the road paving group from the Monday, May 14, 2007 online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .
Flathead County’s dust-abatement delinquency continues, as a new group is making more noise about dust problems on the North Fork Road.
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From the Monday, May 14, 2007 online edition of the Missoulian . . .
(Ben Long is a well-known environmental writer from Kalispell.)
It's not every day the federal government orders a book off the shelves, so you can imagine Ben Long's surprise when he learned last week his work would be pulled and pulped.
"It's not like it's a blockbuster or anything," the Kalispell author said, "but it's been good to me."
And the pulper? The National Park Service, an agency, ironically, that Long has championed for years.
Trouble is, the latest soft-cover release of Long's award-winning book - "Backtracking: By Foot, Canoe and Subaru Along the Lewis and Clark Trail" - features that famous silhouette image of the Corps of Discovery leaders pointing into the distance.
Despite its appearing on road signs for some 40 years now, turns out the National Park Service owns that image and has the right to reel in Long's book.
Which is exactly what it has done.
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A bill signed by the governor yesterday, May 3, 2007, allocates $300,000 to the Flathead Basin Commission for baseline water quality monitoring for the North Fork of the Flathead River.
The money is included in the Department of Natural Resource and Conservation’s water-projects bill. The full text of the bill, in PDF format, can be found here.
From the Thursday, May 3, 2007 online edition of the Bigfork Eagle . . .
What are the places, activities, or events that define the unique character and beauty of the “Crown of the Continent”? National Geographic Society wants to know, “What’s special about your place within the Crown of the Continent?”
National Geographic is working with local partners in the Rocky Mountain border region of Montana, Alberta and British Columbia to create a new kind of map. This “Geotourism MapGuide” will tell the stories and capture the pride that local residents feel for this globally significant region.
[...]
You can learn more about this project and nominate your favorite places for the Geotourism MapGuide at www.crownofthecontinent.net. Nominations will be accepted until May 11, 2007.
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