Tag Archives: Brian Schweitzer

Tensions flare over Schweitzer’s deal with Canada to protect North Fork

From an Associated Press article posted yesterday . . .

Gov. Brian Schweitzer is facing sharp questions from Montana’s congressional delegation over the way the governor has handled an agreement with Canada to protect the Glacier National Park area.

Schweitzer inked a deal with Canadian officials earlier this year promising that both sides would move to permanently protect the Flathead region from development. The governor promised the U.S. side would come up with millions to buy out two Canadian companies — a promise Schweitzer apparently made without first getting federal officials on board.

The Democratic governor had been critical of the congressional delegation — U.S. Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester along with Rep. Denny Rehberg — for failing to come up with the cash.

Tester and Baucus, both Democrats, sent an unusually terse letter to the governor Wednesday. In it, they pointedly ask where Schweitzer expected the money to come from — and where it would go.

Read the full article (highly recommended) . . .

For additional background, read the text of Wednesday’s letter to Gov. Schweitzer from Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester.

North Fork protection may come as a treaty

From this week’s Hungry Horse News . . .

A deal to permanently protect the North Fork of the Flathead from mining and energy exploration could ultimately be resolved in a treaty between the two countries.

President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Monday that they were directing their federal agencies to look at ways of solidifying a deal struck between Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and British Columbia Prime Minister Gordon Campbell in February.

Read the full article . . .

Coalition slowly planning way to pay for protecting North Fork of Flathead

Here’s an insightful follow-up article on last weekend’s Western governors meeting, written by Michael Jamison and posted to the Missoulian’s website early this morning . . .

A plan to forever protect Canadian wildlands north of Glacier National Park — and to pay for those protections — is slowly taking shape, cobbled together by an international coalition that includes local, state and federal partners.

Read the full article . . .

Schweitzer pushes to secure North Fork protection deal with British Columbia

Here’s the Associated Press take on last weekend’s Western governors meeting in Whitefish. This story is getting some national coverage.  From yesterday’s Billings Gazette . . .

Gov. Brian Schweitzer isn’t done jousting with federal officials over a deal with Canada to protect the area surrounding Glacier National Park.

Montana’s governor used the bully pulpit over the weekend as chairman of the Western governors to again criticize his federal partners in the deal — even as the Obama administration was talking with the Canada about moving the state-level pact along.

Read the full article . . .

Governor suggests Columbia Basin bill could help protect North Fork

Coverage of last weekend’s western governor’s conference in Whitefish from the Flathead Beacon . . .

Gov. Brian Schweitzer called on Montana’s federal delegation Sunday to support legislation by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, dedicated to restoring the Columbia River Basin, as a way to fund commitments in the agreement between Montana and British Columbia to protect the North Fork from mining and drilling in Canada.

“Don’t be running after the bus, get on the bus and sit beside the driver,” Schweitzer said. “And this bill is the vehicle.”

Read the full article . . .

Wildlife protection will require collaboration, Western governors told

Posted late yesterday evening to the Missoulian . . .

No park is an island.

That was the message from Whitefish, where governors from Western states met early this week to discuss, among other things, how to protect wildlife and ecosystems that span jurisdictional boundaries.

Montana shares borders with Idaho, and with Wyoming and the Dakotas and with two Canadian provinces, “and wildlife, water and air don’t declare allegiance to any of those borders,” . . .

Read the full article . . .

North Fork mining ban deadline ‘in doubt’

From todays’ Flathead Beacon, more fussing about the July deadline for implementing the provisions of the memorandum of understanding signed by Montana Gov. Schweitzer and BC Premier Campbell during the Winter Olympics . . .

The historic agreement banning natural resource development along the North Fork Flathead River, signed by Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell earlier this year, contains language saying the retirement of oil, gas and mineral leases must be completed by July.

It is a deadline, Schweitzer acknowledged last week, “in doubt.”

Read the full article . . .

Schweitzer says deal to protect Flathead still holding together

From today’s Missoulian. Recommended reading . . .

An agreement to protect the American and Canadian sides of the Flathead River Basin from mining and energy extraction is holding together, even though snags have developed in financing the deal.

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer met with British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell in Victoria on Wednesday and returned with assurances their memorandum of understanding on the Flathead’s protection would survive a July deadline.

Read the full article . . .

Schweitzer says feds ‘let us down’ on protecting North Fork

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer is annoyed at the slow progress retiring mining leases in the Canadian Flathead — not because the Canadians are dragging their feet, but because he feels the U.S. government is not doing their part. However, there seems to be two sides to this story.

Here’s an AP article from the 4th of June providing a good overview of Schweitzer’s stance:

Gov. Brian Schweitzer said Thursday that he’s disappointed the federal government hasn’t come up with about $17 million needed to compensate mining companies as part of a deal with Canada to protect the area surrounding Glacier National Park.

The joint U.S.-Canada deal seeks to halt ongoing exploration and calls for a stop to future development of gold, coal, oil and gas in much of the Flathead River Basin. The basin sprawls across some 9,000 square miles and straddles the border.

Schweitzer and British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell signed the memorandum of understanding in February. It lays out several goals, including the compensation of two small companies that will have to walk away from their mines.

Read the entire article . . .

And here’s an editorial by Kellyn Brown of the Flathead Beacon questioning Schweitzer’s view:

It’s hard to know what to make of Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s recent criticism of his “federal partners” for, according to him, failing to secure $17 million to compensate Canadian mining companies so they will abandon their mining leases near Glacier National Park.

Read the full editorial . . .

B.C. Premier Campbell & Montana Gov. Schweitzer sign agreement banning mining & energy development in Flathead basin

They did it. In the promised follow-up to last week’s announcement that British Columbia was halting all resource extraction activities in the Canadian Flathead, British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell and Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer met today in Vancouver, B. C. to sign an agreement banning mining and energy development throughout the transboundary Flathead Valley.

The Missoulian has the best coverage . . .

With an exchange of bolo ties and Olympic mittens, Gov. Brian Schweitzer and British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell signed an agreement in Vancouver to ban mineral and energy extraction in the cross-border Flathead River Basin on Thursday morning.

“I’m not taking credit for this,” Schweitzer said after the ceremony. “There are people who’ve spent their lifetime working on this goal. I’ve run one lap. And now I’m handing the baton along to the congressional delegation. They have a tall order to convince their colleagues this is the right thing and the right time to do it.”

Read the full article . . .

For those of you who like to read source documents, here is the full text of the “Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation on Environmental Protection, Climate Action and Energy” signed today by Premier Campbell and Governor Schweitzer and witnessed by Kathryn Teneese, Chair of Ktunaxa Nation Council and Michel Kenmille, Council Member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.