Mining impact must be assessed

Inter Lake editorial

The urgency and tenor of opposition to potential coal mining in the Canadian headwaters of the Flathead Basin has reached a new pitch.

And rightly so. The Flathead river system and Flathead Lake cannot become the septic system for Canadian mining profits, but that's exactly what it would become if coal mining is allowed to proceed in the Canadian Flathead.

The British Columbia government went through the motions of including a delegation from Montana to help develop terms and conditions that the Cline Mining Co. must meet in developing its own environmental assessment for an open pit coal mine 22 miles north of the border.

But the Montana delegation's recommendations were ignored. The proposed terms only require Cline to assess environmental impacts in the immediate vicinity of the mining operation, without any broader study of the impacts of the mine or of future mining operations that might follow.

The outcome left Gov. Brian Schweitzer to conclude this week that the threat of coal mining needs to be taken to the federal level. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., concurred and said he will take it to that level.

Some folks may question how a distant coal mine could cause any harm in the Flathead Basin. Scientists, along with state and federal officials, have been lining up to sound the alarm and explain why, and their list of reasons seems to keep growing.

They have bluntly predicted impacts to grizzly bears and other carnivores, to fisheries north and south of the border, and most importantly, to water quality in Montana's Flathead Valley that could have general long-term impacts on fish, wildlife and our economy.

And that's just from one mine producing 2 million tons of coal annually for 20 years. There is another deep, underlying concern that once the roads and power and other infrastructure are developed for one mine in the currently rugged and remote Canadian Flathead, others would likely follow.

Some may choose to consider this alarmist speculation. But we consider it an unacceptable risk that is worthy of federal intervention.