From the Thursday, February 21, 2008 online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .

A proposed British Columbia natural-gas project that raised environmental alarms in Montana is being dropped.

Energy giant BP and British Columbia officials decided that drilling for coal-bed methane, a type of natural gas, will not be pursued on the Canadian side of the Flathead River Basin, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., told The Associated Press on Thursday as he prepared to hold a Kalispell public meeting about possible industrial development in the southeastern area of the Canadian province.

BP Canada spokeswoman Anita Perry confirmed the coal-bed methane development has been dropped before getting started. Perry deferred to provincial officials when asked for further information. Jake Jacobs, a spokesman for the British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, did not immediately return a reporter’s telephone call.

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From the Monday, February 18, 2008 online edition of the Missoulian . . .

Congress is coming to Kalispell this week for a town hall meeting to discuss the proposed industrialization of Canadian wilds bordering Glacier National Park’s northern edge.

Canada’s Flathead River cuts through a valley thought to be rich with coal and coalbed methane before spilling south into Montana, where it forms the western boundary of Glacier Park.

For decades, Montana and British Columbia have clashed over energy development there, with downstream interests worried about impacts to Montana’s fish, wildlife and water quality.

Currently, two Canadian projects dominate the debate – a coal mine in the river’s headwaters and a basinwide hunt for coalbed methane by British Petroleum’s national arm, BP Canada.

On Thursday, Montana Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester, both Democrats, will arrive in Kalispell to receive updates on the Canadian proposals, to gather input on what might be done, and to offer suggestions on what they think is politically possible.

[…]

Montana Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester will meet with officials and the public at 3 p.m. Thursday in the Arts and Technology Building on the Kalispell campus of Flathead Valley Community College. The topic: proposed industrialization of Canada’s Flathead River Valley. The session is open to all.

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From the Tuesday, February 12, 2008 online edition of the Billings Gazette . . .

Proposed coal and coal-bed methane extraction in southeastern British Columbia will be the focus of a public meeting that Montana’s U.S. senators plan in Kalispell.

Democrats Max Baucus and Jon Tester say the February 21st meeting will be an opportunity to receive information from representatives of the state water management bureau, Glacier National Park, a University of Montana professor and conservation activists.

Proposals for new coal mining and coal-bed methane work in the province have raised concern in Montana about possible environmental harm in the transboundary Flathead Basin. Officials in Canada have said thorough environmental studies will take place, and the concern is premature.

From the Saturday, February 9, 2008 online edition of the Missoulian . . .

The annual budget for Glacier National Park has started trickling in, but still to arrive is a promised $886,000 intended to study the environment of southwestern British Columbia.

“I’ll be much happier when I see the money in hand,” said Jack Potter, who heads up scientific research in the park. “It hasn’t come yet, but we’re working on the assumption that it’s on the way.”

The money, secured with the help of Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., is intended to help gather baseline environmental data from an area north of the park targeted for coal and coalbed methane development.

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From the Thursday, January 3, 2008 edition of The Tyee, an online daily based in British Columbia. This is part two of two. The first part (see below) deals with resource extraction threats to the Canadian Flathead . . .

The section of the Rocky Mountains that straddles the Canada-U.S. border has long been recognized as a region of outstanding biological diversity, often referred to as the Crown of the Continent ecosystem. But few British Columbians realize that their province owns a share of this treasure in the form of the little-known Flathead Valley.

In recognition of the Crown of the Continent’s natural beauty and abundant wildlife, Waterton Lakes National Park was established in Alberta’s southern Rockies in 1895. Fifteen years later, the Americans created Glacier National Park next door in northern Montana. In 1932, the two parks were honoured as the world’s first international peace park.

In 1995, UNESCO designated Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park a World Heritage Site. But it noted that the adjoining section of British Columbia’s Flathead Valley was “a missing element,” and recommended that the site boundaries eventually be expanded to include it.

This was not a new idea. Waterton’s first superintendent, John George “Kootenai” Brown, wrote in 1911: “It seems advisable to greatly enlarge this park . . . it might be well to have a preserve and breeding grounds in conjunction with the United States Glacier Park.” Others also espoused this idea throughout the following decades, all without success.

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