BC launching review of Cline Mine
Meetings also will be held in Flathead Valley
British Columbia is about to open a public-comment process on the terms and conditions that will be required of a proposed coal mine in the headwaters of the Flathead Basin.
But state and federal officials in Montana are unsatisfied with the draft "terms of reference" for the Toronto-based Cline Mining Co.'s Lodgepole Mine, so the state likely will conduct a public-comment process of its own.
Rich Moy, chairman of Montana's Flathead Basin Commission, said the British Columbia provincial government essentially "ignored" recommendations that a Montana delegation submitted on the draft terms of reference.
"We're appreciative that British Columbia allowed us to participate in the regulatory process regarding the Cline mine," he said. "We would have hoped that British Columbia would have incorporated our comments, but they did not … Basically, for the most part, they ignored our issues."
So the basin commission and other groups in Montana are ramping up a campaign aimed at educating the public about potential ecological impacts that mining in the Canadian Flathead could have south of the border.
"We are in discussions about holding public meetings in the Flathead … to provide information to folks so they can comment on this" to the BC provincial government, Moy said.
The Montana meetings are in response to meetings that Cline will be holding in January in southern BC. A Cline advertisement in Wednesday's Inter Lake announced that the meetings will be held Jan. 16 in Elko, Jan. 17 in Sparwood, and Jan. 18 in Fernie.
Caryn Miske, the new executive director of the basin commission, said the thinking is that Montanans likely won't travel to meetings in Canada that will be held between 7 and 9 p.m., and it's likely that many Montanans want to be heard.
The draft terms of reference will be the focus of the meetings, outlining just what Cline must do in producing a satisfactory application and environmental assessment for a mountain-top removal operation that is expected to process 2 million tons of coal annually during a 20-year period.
Moy said the draft did not incorporate Montana's main concerns: that the environmental assessment account for the cumulative impacts of the Lodgepole mine and other potential mining projects; and that there won't be an assessment of potential impacts south of the border.
"They are stopping at the border, and we don't think that's appropriate," Moy said.
Under BC's laws, Cline Mining will conduct its own environmental assessment following the terms of reference that eventually are adopted. Organizations in Montana have long contended that the assessment should not be limited to impacts from the Lodgepole Mine alone, but also should consider collective impacts if other mines are developed in the Canadian Flathead. Exploration was under way this summer for another potential mining site called Lillyburt in the Canadian Flathead flood plain.
And just this week, Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper reported that the Canadian government has been negotiating to transfer ownership of so-called Dominion Coal Blocks, also in the Canadian Flathead, to the British Columbia provincial government. That federal government had intended to conduct a study to determine the feasibility of expanding Waterton Lakes National Park, but those plans have been dropped, the newspaper reported.
Miske said a transfer of the vast Dominion coal deposits to the province will "greatly increase" the potential for coal mining in the Canadian Flathead.
About the Lodgepole Mine, concern is growing in Montana about the nutrient and heavy-metal pollution that could spill from the mine into Foisey Creek, a tributary of the Canadian Flathead River that is about 22 miles north of the border.
Those concerns are based on water chemistry and aquatic insect samples from the currently pristine stream, compared to samples that have been collected from Michelle Creek, an Elk River tributary that's only about 10 miles north.
There are striking differences between the two, and a professor at the University of Montana's Yellow Bay Biological Station says its because Michelle Creek has been impacted by a the Coal Mountain Mine, another mountaintop removal operation.
Professor Ric Hauer has reported that the phosphorous and nitrogen levels are much higher in Michelle Creek, and levels of selenium are about 10 times higher. Hauer said the concern is that similar pollution in Foisey Creek would eventually work its into Montana's Flathead River system and ultimately Flathead Lake.
Last summer, student researchers collected 50-60 differenct aquatic insects from Foisey ?reek and nearby streams, indicating there is an ecologically diverse and strong system. Michelle Creek, by contrast, supports only a handful of highly tolerant aquatic insect species.
Concerns also exist about impacts to terrestrial wildlife, particularly grizzly bears.
Chris Servheen, grizzly-bear-recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has submitted comments to BC's Environmental Assessment Office that conclude that current "baseline data" on grizzly bears and other carnivores in the area of the mine "are not sufficient to make a defensible decision" in approving the mine.
"This mine, if approved, will impact grizzly-bear recovery in adjacent areas of the U.S. and will impact other sensitive species that we share along the U.S.-Canada border," Servheen asserted in his comments.
The basin commission and others are pushing to gather as much environmental baseline data as possible before mining gets under way in the transboundary Flathead basin. The commission is drafting a bill for the upcoming Legislature that would provide $308,477 for continuing research, and it is negotiating with the BC provincial government to kick in an additional $183,477.
Various entities, including Glacier National Park and the National Parks Conservation Association, have cobbled together funding for water-supply monitoring that has been conducted at eight sites near the proposed mine site during the past two years. New funding sources are needed, Moy said.
The basin commission has recruited willing sponsors from the Flathead Valley's legislative delegation. Miske said the list of sponsors includes Rep. Bill Jones, R-Bigfork; Rep.-elect Doug Cordier, D-Columbia Falls; Sen. Greg Barkus, R-Kalispell; and Sen. John Brueggemann, R-Polson.
"We want to make sure that we send a clear signal to BC that we are serious about the need to have this kind of data to do an appropriate impact assessment of BC mining," Moy said.
The state of Montana may not have much influence on BC's environmental rules and processes for mining, but the state's leverage with Canada can be found in the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909. Montana has attempted to work directly with the provincial government, but eventually it could pursue action through the International Joint Commission, a panel of American and Canadian representatives with jurisdiction to prevent or resolve Boundary Waters Treaty disputes.
Copies of the draft terms of reference for the Lodgepole Mine can be found at the Flathead County Library in Kalispell or Whitefish, or at the Polson City Library. The documents also are online at:
Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com