From the Friday, November 2, 2007 online edition of the Flathead Beacon . . .

Montana’s senior U.S. senator and several conservation groups said Friday they are alarmed anew about prospects for industrial work in southeastern British Columbia, north of Montana’s Glacier National Park.

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., said another mining project that he finds “potentially devastating” is planned at the headwaters of the North Fork Flathead River. The North Fork forms the western boundary of Glacier and flows into Montana’s Flathead Lake. Opponents of mining in the southeastern area of the province say the work could harm water quality downstream in Montana.

The National Parks Conservation Association and others Friday raised concern about a different matter. They expressed alarm about water disposal for what they said will be the province’s first commercial production of coal-bed methane. Extracting methane from coal seams brings forth salty water, and its disposal is controversial.

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From the Thursday, October 11, 2007 online edition of the Whitefish Pilot . . .

The Whitefish City Council learned Oct. 1 about the idea of a joint resolution between Whitefish and Fernie, British Columbia, urging Gov. Brian Schweitzer and B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell to meet and discuss “transboundary issues” — that is, potential impacts to the Flathead River by coal-mining upstream in Canada.

Mayor Cris Coughlin told the council she received a copy of the resolution from Will Hammerquist, a program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association.

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This article appeared in the Monday, October 8, 2007 online edition of the Missoulian. A public meeting to present the study information mentioned here will be held at 7 p.m. October 9 in rooms 144 A and B of the Arts and Technology Building at Flathead Valley Community College.

High in the mountain wilderness of Glacier National Park, far from the modern world’s smokestacks and industries, pristine has officially been downgraded.

Chemicals and contaminants have tainted the park’s most remote corners, with some backcountry fish so toxic they could prove dangerous to the wildlife that eats them.

Such are the stunning results of a three-year field study exploring how airborne pollutants poison national parks by filtering down out of the atmosphere.

On Tuesday in Kalispell, Dixon Landers will share his findings in a presentation titled

Posted on Wednesday, October 3, 2007 to the MSNBC news site . . .

U.S. and Canadian officials plan to meet this month in Paris to discuss how an international park on their border could be protected from a proposed coal mine nearby.

The Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park was designated by the United Nations as a World Heritage Site in 1995. The mine would be north of Montana’s Glacier National Park, which abuts Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, where the province meets British Columbia. The two parks make up the international park.

“Proposed energy development north of Glacier has the potential to be a big problem,” said U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., who said the U.S. Interior Department told him arrangements will be worked out this week for the meeting during the World Heritage Convention on Oct. 24-25.

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From the Wednesday, October 3, 2007 online edition of the Flathead Beacon . . .

Everyone from high school students to community groups are getting involved in air quality study in the Flathead Valley, as testing for one University of Montana [study] ends and another begins.

Tony Ward, a UM research assistant professor, made a dual-purpose trip last week, introducing Whitefish High School chemistry students to an air quality sampling program and collecting months of samples from the North Fork Road Coalition for Health and Safety.