Category Archives: Environmental Issues

Threats to BC’s Flathead River Valley trigger World Heritage Committee investigation

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According to the Waterton-Glacier in Danger web log, UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee has voted unanimously to send a delegation to investigate threats to Waterton-Glacier Park posed by resource development activities.

Here’s the lead-in from the press release. See the Waterton-Glacier in Danger site for details and breaking news . . .

Seville, Spain–UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee voted today to send a fact-finding mission to Canada to investigate threats to Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park posed by energy and mining proposals in BC’s adjacent Flathead River Valley.

The 21-member committee voted unanimously for a 2009 World Heritage Centre mission that will “evaluate and provide recommendations on the requirements for ensuring the protection” of Waterton-Glacier, citing concern about the threats that potential mining and energy development within the Flathead Valley would have on water and ecosystem connectivity. It asked Canada and the US to work together to prepare a report–by February 1, 2010– that examines all Flathead River Valley energy and mining proposals and their cumulative impacts.

Read the full press release . . .

World Heritage Committee draft resolution on Waterton-Glacier posted

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Today’s post on the Waterton-Glacier Endangered web log includes information on the UN World Heritage Committee draft resolution concerning the dangers posed to Waterton and Glacier parks by resource extraction in the Flathead headwaters region — the proposed Cline Mine, in particular. According to the posting, the first draft of the resolution does not explicitly call for placing Waterton-Glacier Park on the list of “Endangered World Heritage Sites,” nor does it yet address any indigenous concerns, including those views expressed by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

The UN World Heritage Committee meeting in Seville, Spain runs through June 30th. The schedule document is more than a little opaque, so it is not clear when the resolution on Waterton-Glacier will come up for a final vote.

Web log covers this week’s UN World Heritage Committee meeting

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In case you missed it on the read-through of the article linked in the previous post, Will Hammerquist of the NPCA and Ryland Nelson of Wildsight “…have established a new Web site, savewatertonglacier.com, and will be blogging from Spain throughout the weeklong meeting, in addition to posting pictures and video from the conference.” There’s already a fair bit of material up there, including an initial video made just prior to the World Heritage Committee opening ceremonies.

Coalition petitioning for Waterton and Glacier Park protections

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Here’s an excellent article — with video — that appeared in today’s Missoulian . . .

Glacier National Park and its neighbor to the north are endangered by mining proposals, and the international community must intervene to protect the region’s natural and cultural heritage.

That’s the message being delivered this week by tribal leaders, community organizers, business interests and conservationists, whose concerns will be aired at the 33rd annual meeting of the United Nations World Heritage Committee.

“Our petition,” said Will Hammerquist, “asks the World Heritage Committee to hear the concerns of local communities and indigenous peoples by recognizing the threat these projects pose to a globally significant ecosystem.”

Hammerquist works for the National Parks Conservation Association, which joined a dozen other groups in petitioning for the endangered status.

Read the entire article . . .

Mines prompt international call for help from Glacier, Waterton national parks

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From today’s online edition of the Missoulian . . .

The state of conservation at two Northern Rockies national parks near a place eyed for possible coal mining will be reviewed by a UNESCO committee meeting in Spain this week.

Groups that say Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, consisting of a U.S. park and a Canadian park, is at risk hope the meeting in Seville, Spain, will bring their concern some global attention. They’ve petitioned UNESCO to declare the peace park endangered. But a lawmaker in the Canadian province of Alberta rejects any suggestion that coal mining or other industry threatens environmental quality in a slice of North America known for stunning alpine scenery and extraordinary wildlife habitat.

Read the entire article . . .

Also note that there’s still a chance to have your voice heard. The National Parks Conservation Association has an online form for sending letters to officials in the US and Canada, as well as the UN World Heritage Committee.

New wolf delisting rule brings new lawsuit

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From today’s online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .

A coalition of environmental groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging the recent delisting of gray wolves in Montana and Idaho, raising some of the same legal issues that blocked delisting last year.

But there is a new twist in the litigation — the plaintiffs will challenge the federal government decision to exclude Wyoming from its delisting rule because of that state’s inadequate wolf management plan.

Read the entire article . . .

Flathead Coalition review pans BP’s environmental study

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The Flathead Coalition is less than amused at BP-Canada’s approach to environmental science. They don’t think much of British Columbia’s fox-guarding-the-henhouse rules for conducting environmental studies, either.

A press release pubished today by Citizens Concerned About Coalbed Methane summarizes the issue . . .

The Flathead Coalition announced today that its internal evaluation of BP-Canada Energy Company’s environmental science demonstrates bias toward understating the likely environmental impact of its proposed Mist Mountain CBM project.

The Mist Mountain CBM project is being planned by BP-Canada for the Crowsnest Coalfield area that spans the Elk River and Flathead River hydrologic divide. The B.C. government granted tenure last December for the Elk Valley portions of the coalfield. BP says it plans to start exploratory drilling in early 2010, though it may commence sooner.

Read the entire article . . .

UN to hear petition that Waterton-Glacier Park in danger

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Last Tuesday’s Globe and Mail carried an article on the move to place Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park on the UN list of endangered World Heritage Sites due to the proposed Cline Coal Mine in the Canadian Flathead and other possible resource extraction activities in that area. (Thanks to Will Hammerquist of the National Parks Conservation Association for catching this one.)

A stunningly beautiful park that spans the Canada-U.S. border in southwestern Alberta may soon be added to an infamous United Nations list of the world’s most threatened special areas.

In a session in Seville, Spain, next month, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization will consider a petition by 11 conservation groups asking that Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park be designated a World Heritage Site in Danger.

“If that happens, it would be a really big black eye for both Canada and the United States,” Ryland Nelson, a spokesman for one of the petitioning groups, Wildsight, said yesterday.

Read the entire article . . .

National forest roadless rule revived — sort of

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I’ve you’ve lost track of the administrative and legal status of the infamous national forest “roadless rule,” you’re not alone. The Obama administration has effectively reinstated it — sort of — for a year while they figure things out. Here’s the lede from the Associated Press article as published in yesterday’s online Flathead Beacon . . .

The Obama administration is ordering a one-year moratorium on most road-building and other development on about 50 million acres of remote national forests.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack issued a directive Thursday reinstating for one year most of a Clinton-era ban against new road construction and development in national forests. The 2001 rule banned road-building and logging in more than 58 million acres of remote national forests, mostly in the West.

Conflicting court decisions issued since then have left the so-called roadless rule’s legal status in doubt.

Read the entire article . . .

North Fork plight in U.N. spotlight

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From this week’s online edition of the Hungry Horse News . . .

Sen. Max Baucus last week said he would push to have the North Fork of the Flathead designated as a World Heritage Site in Danger, a dubious distinction as Glacier National Park turns 100 next year.

The North Fork will see the international limelight in June, when Will Hammerquist, the Glacier representative of the National Park Conservation Association and Ryland Nelson, of the Canadian environmental organization Wildsight, will testify in front of a United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage panel.

Read the entire article . . .