Governor wants meeting on coal dispute

After more than 20 years of cross-border wrangling about coal development in the Canadian Flathead, Gov. Brian Schweitzer thinks it's time to sit down and talk.

Schweitzer, the featured speaker at the Flathead Coalition's annual meeting Wednesday in Kalispell, said he wants to meet with British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell.

He said he thinks a face-to-face meeting is the best way to resolve some of the concerns about potential mining activities in the area just north of the border, where the headwaters of the North Fork are located.

"We in Montana have been discussing what they in Canada are doing in that area since 1982," Schweitzer said. During that time, "five governors have been involved, but to my knowledge there has never been a face-to-face meeting between the governor and the premier."

"I think that's the starting point. Let him show me what they have in mind, then I'll show him the Crown of the Continent."

Schweitzer and the coalition are worried that new coal-mine and coal-bed methane development in British Columbia could pollute the Flathead River and Flathead Lake, as well as harm fish and wildlife populations throughout the area, which includes wilderness areas and national parks on both sides of the border.

This issue took on new urgency last month when Cline Mining Co. announced its intention to apply for a "small mine" permit in the Foisey Creek basin by the end of the year.

Foisey Creek is a tributary of the North Fork of the Flathead. The small-mine permit would allow the company to excavate as much as 250,000 tons of material a year, with minimal environmental analysis and no public review.

Cline also indicated that this preliminary activity eventually could lead to future production of 2 million to 3 million tons annually.

"This is the most pristine area left on the North American continent," Schweitzer said Wednesday. "It would be inappropriate to proceed [with any mining activity] without providing some baseline data."

The governor recently asked the U.S. State Department to support his request for a comprehensive environmental assessment of the transboundary area.

If an assessment is completed before any new coal development takes place, it would provide the baseline data needed to determine whether mining activities are harming water quality or the environment.

Acting Assistant Secretary Charles Shapiro responded June 6 to Schweitzer's letter, saying the federal government is monitoring the situation and that it supports referring the issue to the International Joint Commission.

The commission is made up of Canadian and American representatives. It's responsible for enforcing the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty and resolving transboundary water disputes.

The commission first came into play in Montana during the 1980s, when it helped block an open-pit coal mine proposed in the Cabin Creek area just north of Glacier National Park.

"It seems like this damn thing never wants to go away," said Jack Stanford, director of the Flathead Lake Biological Station at Yellow Bay.

Stanford, who also spoke during Wednesday's coalition meeting, has been doing water-quality research in the Flathead basin for more than 30 years. He collected some baseline data from the transboundary area during the 1980s, during the earlier mine dispute, and recently appointed a couple of graduate students to start taking water samples from the area near Foisey Creek.

"Flathead Lake is the cleanest lake in the temperate region in the world," he said. "There's no way I'm going to stand by and see these coal mines screw that up. If they refuse to tell us what the impacts will be from their operation, we'll get the data anyway."

Stanford said he thinks new technology for producing high-quality steel is driving Cline's interest in the Canadian coal, making it economically feasible to pursue the deposits.

He also noted that the coal "isn't going to go away," meaning this dispute could continue for years.

To forestall that possibility, Schweitzer said he was willing to meet Premier Campbell "any time, anywhere."

"We'll buy the steak," Schweitzer said. "We aren't going to tell British Columbia what to do, but I think if the folks in Vancouver and Victoria understood what was at stake, they'd rise up as well. If we can get a high-level meeting between the governor and premier, it will elevate public awareness."