Category Archives: News

B.C.’s coal bed dreams inch ahead amid border impasse

From the Wednesday, August 8, 2007 online edition of The Globe and Mail . . .

As two coal-based mining projects begin to move ahead in British Columbia, an effort by the province and neighbouring Montana to work together on the environmental effects of mining has cooled off.

Nearly two years after the two jurisdictions began work on a way to deal with cross-border concerns over proposed resource developments, there is still no approved plan, and no formal talks are scheduled.

Meanwhile, a metallurgical coal mine and a potential $3-billion coal bed methane project are moving ahead, although both are at very early stages.

“We’re at a little bit of an impasse, but we haven’t given up,” said John van Dongen, B.C. Minister of State for Intergovernmental Relations. “We’re working on it.”

Mike Volesky, natural resources adviser to Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, wouldn’t call it an impasse, but he confirmed there have been no formal talks since December, 2006. He was uncertain whether the dialogue could be restarted before the fall.

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Ban on campfires takes effect today

From the Monday, July 30, 2007 online edition of the Daily Inter Lake . . .

Starting today, new fire restrictions will prohibit all campfires across Northwest Montana.

Stage Two fire restrictions will apply to all lands under the protection of the Montana Department of Natural Resources, the Flathead and Kootenai national forests and Glacier National Park, along with Lake, Sanders, Lincoln and Flathead counties. The restrictions also apply to lands managed by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Bob Marshall Wilderness will remain under Stage One fire restrictions, which allow campfires in designated areas.

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Fish odyssey may help sink energy development plan

From the Thursday, June 21, 2007 online edition of the Vancouver Sun . . .

The cross-border sexual odyssey of six fish from northern Montana to southern B.C. could help sink a planned multi-billion-dollar Canadian energy development that has spawned years of conflict between the U.S. and Canada.

A half-dozen cutthroat trout captured on the Flathead River south of the B.C.-Montana border and fitted with radio transmitters were tracked by researchers as they swam to spawning beds in Canada, giving hope to both American and Canadian critics of a proposed B.C. coal mine that efforts to protect the trout’s trans-boundary travels will help scuttle the controversial project.

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