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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From the Friday, September 14, 2007 online edition of The Globe and Mail . . .

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer is accusing Premier Gordon Campbell of breaching a four-year-old pact to protect environmentally sensitive areas that straddle the border.

Mr. Schweitzer, in a three-page letter sent Aug. 22, says the province’s decision to allow two projects – a coal mine and a coal bed methane development – to proceed through the early stages of permission is of “continued concern” to the state and a breach of the 2003 Environmental Cooperation Arrangement between Montana and British Columbia.

“Since the signing of the Environmental Cooperation Arrangement there have been five separate proposals for exploratory and industrial fossil fuel development in the British Columbia Flathead,” the letter states. “I believe the intent [of the arrangement] is not being met and the proposed fossil fuel developments over the past five years run contrary to the language of the arrangement …”

The governor’s letter – combined with combative language on Monday from Montana’s two U.S. senators, Max Baucus and Jon Tester – points to an escalation of the cross-border war of words over potential resource development in southeastern B.C.

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From the Tuesday, September 11, 2007 online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., met with British Petroleum chiefs Monday, warning them to expect a

From the Thursday, September 6, 2007 online edition of the Bigfork Eagle . . .

For a company that tries to sell itself as a green corporation, British Petroleum is expected to go ahead with plans that could industrialize the Canadian Flathead, watchdogs on this side of the border claim.

The Flathead Basin Commission recently learned that BP will seek an exploratory permit to drill for coal-bed methane in the Canadian Flathead River drainage.

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From the Thursday, August 23, 2007 online edition of the Hungry Horse News . . .

Montana Sen. Jon Tester has raised opposition to coal bed methane exploration and development in the Canadian Flathead. But the company that plans on doing the drilling claims it will do the work in an environmentally sensitive manner.

Tester, in a letter earlier this month to Andy Inglis, the chief executive of energy and exploration for British Petroleum, said he had “serious reservations and opposition” to BP Canada Energy Company’s recent proposal to begin coal bed methane exploration in the Flathead.

The river forms most of the western boundary of Glacier National Park. Opponents in the U.S. claim CBM development in Canada would harm not only the water quality here, but would also harm large carnivores like wolves and grizzly bears, which routinely cross the border into Canada.

Coal bed methane development requires a large network of football field-sized well pads and roads to serve them.

The disturbance is compounded by millions of gallons of wastewater from the operations that in, in most cases, is unpotable and toxic to fish and anything else that consumes it.

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This Associated Press story appeared in the Wednesday, September 5, 2007 online editions of the Daily Inter Lake and the Flathead Beacon . . .

Montana’s U.S. senators Wednesday asked Canada to give Montana scientists a voice in assessing potential environmental effects from proposed coal mining and coal-bed methane work in southeastern British Columbia.

Industrial development in that part of the province, north of Montana’s Glacier National Park, has raised concerns in the state about possible harm to water quality in the transboundary Flathead River system.

Montana scientists should have a place in Canada’s federal environmental assessments for a mining proposal by Canada-based Cline Mining Co., and for potential coal-bed methane extraction by British Petroleum, Democratic Sens. Jon Tester and Max Baucus wrote Michael Wilson, Canada’s ambassador to the United States.

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From the Thursday, August 9, 2007 online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .

British Petroleum has formally applied for an exploration permit for coal-bed methane gas in the Flathead and Elk River drainages of southeastern British Columbia, a provincial liaison to the Flathead Basin Commission said Wednesday.

And a representative for Gov. Brian Schweitzer announced that the administration intends to organize a Montana-British Columbia Symposium late this year as part of an effort to revive discussions over the future of the transboundary Flathead drainage.

Kathy Eichenberger, representing the B.C. Ministry of Environment, said BP has applied for an exploratory permit. She subsequently was peppered with questions at a basin commission meeting in Somers.

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From the Thursday, August 9, 2007 online edition of the Bigfork Eagle . . .

The interconnectivity of northwest Montana’s water sources serve as a double-edged sword.

On one hand, the connections promote a diverse ecosystem and help filter pollutants. On the other hand, large disturbances can impact massive areas.

Dr. Richard Hauer’s lecture, titled “Critical linkages in our waterscapes: River, groundwater and lake connections,” showed the intricate web of Flathead’s water systems.

This connectivity is one reason Dr. Hauer said the mining proposals in British Columbia are such a threat. The proposed coal mine and coal bed methane exploration sites are located at the head of the North Fork of the Flathead River in Canada, which is just 22 miles from the border.

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