Tag Archives: coal mining

$10 million buyout protects Flathead from future gold & coal mining

Here’s a nice Valentine’s Day gift, posted in today’s Missoulian . . .

A deal to protect the North Fork of the Flathead River from gold and coal development has been sealed with a $10 million contribution from private conservation groups, Gov. Brian Schweitzer announced on Monday.

The Nature Conservancy’s U.S. and Canadian organizations have agreed to pay for the expenses of two Canadian mining firms that were exploring the upper reaches of the river drainage in British Columbia. That branch of the Flathead River runs along the western border of Glacier National Park where it enters the United States.

Continue reading . . .

Flathead Lakers to present Stewardship Award to Gov. Schweitzer and BC Premier Campbell

From today’s Daily Inter Lake . . .

The Flathead Lakers will present their annual Stewardship Award to Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell at their annual meeting on July 15.

The award will recognize the landmark agreement the two leaders signed in February banning mining and oil-and-gas development in the North Fork Flathead watershed, headwaters to Flathead Lake.

Read the entire article . . .

More coverage of BC’s North Fork mining and energy development ban

We’re starting to see more — and more detailed — coverage of British Columbia’s decision to forgo resource extraction activities in the Canadian Flathead River Valley. Two good articles appeared today.

The Daily Inter Lake did a nice, balanced job . . .

The lieutenant governor of British Columbia announced Tuesday that all types of mining and oil and gas development “will not be permitted” in the province’s portion of the Flathead Valley.

It was news that was well received in Montana.

Read the entire article . . .

Unsurprisingly, the Environmental News Service write-up was a bit heavier on quotes from various environmental outfits, but also includes considerable background information . . .

Mining and drilling for oil, gas and coal will be banned in the Canadian portion of the Flathead River Basin, under a new partnership with the state of Montana announced Tuesday in British Columbia’s Speech from the Throne, an annual address that identifies the Province’s legislative priorities for the coming year.

British Columbia Lieutenant Governor Steven Point declared, “A new partnership with Montana will sustain the environmental values in the Flathead River Basin in a manner consistent with current forestry, recreation, guide outfitting and trapping uses. It will identify permissible land uses and establish new collaborative approaches to transboundary issues.”

Read the entire article . . .

BC declares North Fork off limits to mining & energy development

In the annual “Throne Speech,” British Columbia Lt. Gov. Steven Point declared the Canadian portion of the Flathead River Valley off limits to mining and energy extraction. Assuming no subtle weasel-wording, this means B.C. just shut the door to activities such as coal and gold mining and coalbed methane development in the Canadian North Fork. Word is, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer will be flying to Vancouver, B.C., next week to sign a memorandum of understanding committing both the state and the province to work towards the same goals for the Flathead River Basin on their respective sides of the border.

Currently, the Missoulian has the most detailed coverage . . .

British Columbia Lt. Gov. Steven Point declared the Canadian portion of the Flathead River Valley off limits to mining and energy extraction in a speech to his parliament on Tuesday.

Citing a new partnership with Montana, Point said the Flathead River Basin would be managed for existing types of forestry, recreation, guide outfitting and trapping uses.

Read the entire article . . .

The Flathead Beacon has an Associated Press write-up . . .

British Columbia’s government said Tuesday it will not permit mining or drilling in a remote valley along the Montana border that companies have been trying to develop for 25 years.

Read the entire article . . .

Flathead Wild: UN Report calls for ban on Flathead mining

The folks at Flathead Wild posted a good summary of the high points of the UNESCO World Heritage report on threats to Waterton-Glacier Park, along with links to major press coverage — both print and video.

Here’s the lead-in . . .

Great news for Friends of the Flathead! A UNESCO World Heritage report is recommending a permanent prohibition on mining in the Flathead River Valley. And that a single conservation and wildlife management plan be developed for the entire trans-boundary Flathead region.

The report also says the adjacent Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park should be declared a World Heritage Site in Danger if plans proceed for a controversial Flathead coal strip mine.

Read the entire article . . .

What the trout tell us

Dan Testa has an excellent piece in the Flathead Beacon discussing trout studies in the North Fork — on both sides of the border — and the general importance of this sort of baseline study in connection with the upcoming UNESCO scientific mission to study threats to Waterton-Glacier Park.

Here’s a sampler . . .

The research of these scientists is likely to be heavily relied upon by members of a United Nations fact-finding mission arriving in the region some time in the next year to determine whether Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park should be designated a “World Heritage Site in Danger.” The unanimous June vote in Seville, Spain, by a 21-country panel of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) could mean widespread attention will once again be drawn to the issue of threats from mining and drilling operations in southeastern British Columbia along the headwaters of the North Fork, which serves as the western boundary of Glacier National Park.

Read the entire article . . .

Coal mine threat to Glacier draws UN attention

Here’s this week’s Hungry Horse News write-up on UNESCO’s investigation of threats to Waterton-Glacier Park . . .

A United Nations delegation will travel to Glacier National Park and the North Fork to see for itself the threats of mining and coal bed methane development could have on the Park.

Meeting in Spain last week the 21-member United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s World Heritage Committee voted unanimously to send a mission to Waterton-Glacier and the Canadian Flathead.

Read the entire article . . .

Flathead tops list of BC’s most endangered rivers

The Outdoor Recreation Council of British Columbia (ORBC) started publishing a list of the most endangered rivers in the province in 2006. This year, the Flathead River is in the #1 spot, as it was in 2007, mostly because of the proposed Cline Coal Mine. An excerpt from today’s press release . . .

The Flathead River, which flows through southeastern BC into Montana, tops British Columbia’s most endangered rivers list for 2009 due to concerns about a controversial proposed open pit coal mine. The Flathead, which was number two on last year’s list, is widely considered one of North America’s wildest and most beautiful waterways. “The Flathead supports important trans-boundary fish populations while also sustaining the highest density of inland grizzly bears anywhere in North America”, said Mark Angelo, Rivers Chair for the Outdoor Recreation Council and an Order of Canada recipient.

Yet, while the US section is protected, the BC stretch faces a number of threats, the most prominent being the proposed Cline open pit coal mine. Given the size and location of the mine in the river’s headwaters, water quality would be impacted and recreational, wildlife and wilderness values would be greatly compromised.

For the full text of the press release and the associated backgrounder document, see the ORBC’s Endangered Rivers page.

UPDATE: Not strictly related to the Canadian Flathead — at least, not yet — but the ORBC is also concerned with the impact of “green” power projects on a number of B.C.’s rivers. The Vancouver Sun has coverage of this issue.

Groups renew call to expand Waterton into B. C. river valley

From the Saturday, January 31, 2009 online edition of the Calgary Herald . . .

Conservation groups are renewing calls for Waterton Lakes National Park to be expanded into the Flathead River Valley, despite British Columbia’s decision to close the door to coal bed methane development in the ecologically key area in southeastern B.C.

The Sierra Club, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Wildsight and others say the relatively untouched valley is still imperilled.

“Until we have permanent protection for the Flathead River Valley in the form of a national park, it is still threatened by future coal bed methane proposals,” said Sarah Cox, a spokeswoman for Sierra Club B. C. “And it’s under threat from a proposal for strip mining coal and other minerals.”

Read the entire article . . .

Stalemate, some success, retirement

From the Sunday, January 11, 2009 online edition of the Missoulian . . .

The coal was here, hidden by a thin skin of wilderness, long before Rich Moy arrived; and it was still here, against all odds, when he left.

That, he considers, is at least some sort of success, although much more work will be required to keep it there, buried beneath what’s wild.

“In many ways, it’s been a stalemate for 30 years,” Moy said. “We haven’t lost much ground, but we haven’t gained any, either. The Canadian Flathead and the wilderness north of Glacier National Park have been and will be a flashpoint of international controversy.”

When Moy arrived on this backcountry battlefield, nearly three decades ago, the then-new controversy centered on a proposed Canadian coal mine to be built just a few miles north of Glacier Park.

When he finally retired last month, on the last day of 2008, the now-old controversy centered on yet another coal mine proposed in the headwaters, and a second coal mine in the river bottom, and a gold mine, and a phosphate mine, and an ongoing search for coalbed methane.

“In all these decades,” he said, “the British Columbia government has never wavered in its desire to industrialize the Flathead.”

Read the entire article . . .