From the Associated Press, posted late Saturday, March 10, 2007 . . .

The Bush administration is challenging a coal mine proposed in British Columbia, saying it poses an environmental threat that could extend south of the border.

The mine that Cline Mining Co. proposed just north of Glacier National Park could cause “significant adverse environmental effects” the United States, the U.S. State Department said in a letter to the British Columbia government.

Montana officials say the open-pit mine would jeopardize water quality in the Flathead area, which includes Flathead Lake and other waters popular for recreation. The Flathead River system spans the international border, and the north fork of the river is Glacier’s western boundary.

The Flathead basin is “an area of unique and internationally recognized environmental importance,” Edward Alex Lee, Canadian affairs director in the State Department, said in the Feb. 23 letter.

Kate Thompson, spokeswoman for the British Columbia Ministry of Environment, did not comment Saturday. Thompson said she intended to discuss the letter with Garry Alexander, the official to whom it was addressed.

Phone messages left for Cline were not returned Saturday.

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From the Friday, March 9, 2007 online edition of the Washington Post . . .

The Bush administration has objected to a proposed open-pit coal mine in Canada near the Montana border, citing the potential for irreversible environmental damage to Glacier National Park, pristine trout streams and the largest natural lake in the West.

The objection — in a Feb. 23 letter from the State Department to the provincial government of British Columbia — comes after nearly six years of demands from elected officials in Montana for federal action to stop the mine.

The State Department letter has not been made public, but news of its existence was greeted on Friday as a significant breakthrough in an environmental quarrel that has created bad blood between British Columbia and Montana.

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Premier Gordon Campbell announced on February 14 that B.C. would not allow surface water discharge from coalbed methane operations in the province. Reaction in the press was muted. The Flathead Coalition was very pleased.

British Columbia Turnaround On Coalbed Methane Waste Water Commended By Transboundary Conservation Alliance

Premier Gordon Campbell