From the Wednesday, November 21, 2007 online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .

Potential industrial development in the Canadian Flathead drainage is gaining a higher profile in British Columbia, with possible environmental consequences that would counter international law, Canadian speakers said at a gathering Monday in Whitefish.

Richard Paisley, an international water law expert from the University of British Columbia, was among the speakers at an open house sponsored by the Flathead Coalition, a group of Montanans concerned about potential coal and gas development north of the border.

Paisley said there is a growing body of international law that supports the position that fish, wildlife and water resources in Montana

From an AFP article (including some very nice photos) posted on Monday, November 19, 2007 . . .

Two ambitious energy exploration projects in western Canada are raising fears among US environmentalists of irreversible ecological damage to a pristine expanse of the famed Rocky Mountains.

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From the Wednesday, November 7, 2007 online edition of The Globe and Mail . . .

Another skirmish is brewing in the continuing battle between British Columbia and Montana over potential resource development north of the border and its impact on rivers flowing into the United States.

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer is now questioning the province’s commitment to prevent any coal-bed methane (CBM) projects from dumping wastewater from gas wells into drainages that eventually flow south to Montana.

At the same time, he is raising concerns about a phosphate exploratory drilling project in the same area, recently completed by privately held Paget Resources Corp. of Vancouver.

The more pressing issue, from Mr. Schweitzer’s perspective, is a CBM pilot project run by junior exploration company Storm Cat Energy Corp. of Denver. The company confirmed it has a permit from the B.C. government to discharge wastewater from its pilot project into Brit Creek, a tributary of the Elk River. The Elk River flows into Lake Koocanusa, which straddles the B.C.-Montana border.

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From the Saturday, November 3, 2007 online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .

Several Montana conservation groups are concerned about plans to expand a coal-bed methane operation with continued discharge of wastewater into an Elk River tributary.

And, a mining company was reportedly test drilling last month for phosphate deposits in the Cabin Creek area, a tributary to the North Fork Flathead River.

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., said he recently learned that the company, which he did not identify, drilled test wells from Oct. 18 to 23, with permission from the provincial government.

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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.