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.

From the Wednesday, October 3, 2007 online edition of the Missoulian . . .

The nation’s top-level land managers are looking to meet with their Canadian counterparts in France later this month to discuss controversial mining projects planned upstream of Glacier National Park.

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

The media storm by Montana

From the Wednesday, September 26, 2007 online edition of the Flathead Beacon . . .

U.S. Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester on Wednesday urged top U.S. officials to help add Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park to the “List of World Heritage in Danger,” as part of their efforts to prevent mining and drilling proposals north of the Montana border.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization named the park a World Heritage site

From the Tuesday, September 18, 2007 online edition of the Missoulian . . .

In a pair of recent letters, Canadian leaders delivered a sharp response to Montana concerns about coal-mine plans upstream of Glacier National Park.

Yet despite the ongoing disagreement, both sides appear committed to keeping negotiations alive.

From the Tuesday, September 18, 2007 online edition of the Flathead Beacon . . .

Three leading Montana representatives should reconsider their efforts to intervene as officials in Canada consider potential mining and drilling on the northern side of the transboundary Flathead River Basin, Canada’s U.S. ambassador and British Columbia’s premier indicated in letters.

Ambassador Michael Wilson on Monday told Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester they were off base in proposing an international panel review environmental aspects of potential coal mining and coal-bed methane work in southeastern British Columbia. In a separate letter to Gov. Brian Schweitzer last week, Premier Gordon Campbell sent a mixed response to the governor’s proposal that state and provincial representatives meet to discuss environmental issues spanning the border. Campbell also questioned Montana’s environmental record.

“We recognize in particular that Montana’s land-use and resource development decisions elsewhere in the state mean the Flathead Basin is the only remaining major protected area in Montana,” the premier wrote. Most of the state is “pretty pristine,” Schweitzer responded Monday in a telephone interview.

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From the Saturday, September 15, 2007 online edition of The Globe and Mail . . .

British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell yesterday sent a toughly worded letter to Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer declining his offer of a December meeting on cross-border environmental issues and challenging the state’s environmental performance.

Stung by a letter from Mr. Schweitzer three weeks ago that takes B.C.’s performance to task, Mr. Campbell took his own gloves off and offered up a detailed defence of the province’s environmental assessment program while casting aspersions, in diplomatic language, on the Montana record.

The two leaders are sparring over potential resource development in the Flathead River area of southeastern B.C. and the possible impact on that river as it flows into Montana. Festering for years, the issue has exploded into a war of words in the past three weeks.

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