Council questioned about coal-bed plans

A gathering of U.S. and Canadian government and business leaders in Alaska this week has caught the attention of Montanans concerned about coal development in British Columbia's Flathead drainage.

The latest proposal for coal-bed methane development in the Canadian Flathead comes from British Petroleum, a company that is one of the leading sponsors of the Pacific Northwest Economic Region Council.

A public-private partnership with a mission of fostering "sustainable economic development" in the Pacific Northwest, the council is holding its annual summit in Anchorage, Alaska, this week. Montana and British Columbia are members of the council with conflicting views on the future of the Canadian Flathead, a drainage that feeds Montana's North Fork Flathead River.

Montana Public Service Commissioner Ken Toole is concerned about the influence that BP has over the council and particularly British Columbia provincial officials.

"Any time we see big corporations contributing $50,000 and up to any organization we know they are only doing it to promote their bottom line," Toole said in a press release.

Toole said his remarks were prompted by recent correspondence from constituents in the Flathead Valley who are concerned about the downstream effects of industrial development in the headwaters of Montana's North Fork Flathead River.

Toole said coal-bed methane development in the Canadian Flathead "will jeopardize water quality in the entire Flathead Basin - including Flathead Lake."

BP and TransCanada, a company that builds and operates gas transmission lines, are top "Diamond Sponsors" of the regional council, with their corporate logos on the organization's Web site.

"This so-called public private partnership is clearly heavily sponsored by special interest corporations trying to influence public policy that is not in the interest of Montanans," Toole said.

The montana Public Interest Research Group, a non-profit advocacy organization, has joined Toole in questioning the council's "lack of transparency and excessive corporate influence."

"PNWER is clearly a sophisticated lobbying organization," said Matt Leow, MontPIRG executive director. "While corporate lobbyists have full access to lawmakers, everyday citizens are completely shut out of the discussion."

In response, a spokesman for the council told the BC Daily News Magazine that most of the council's budget comes from the U.S. and Canadian federal government, along with dues from member states and provinces.

"So having the private sector involved is part of the mix," he said. "But, by no means, an undue influence."

British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell was the keynote speaker this week at the summit.

The Toronto Globe and Mail reported that Campbell touted the sheer economic power of the region that includes British Columbia, Alberta and the Yukon, along with Washington, Alaska, Montana, Idaho and Oregon.

"How can we collaborate and improve our economies at the same time?" Campbell said at the summit. "That is what we need to start doing more of. Not waiting for federal governments to step in."

But coal development in the Canadian Flathead is nowhere to be seen on the summit's agenda, and frustrated officials in Montana are turning to federal intervention when it comes to protecting the North Fork Flathead basin.

For Montana, the potential for industrial development in the Canadian Flathead has been a major issue. Republican and Democratic governors have sought a cooperative management arrangement for the basin north and south of the border. Most recently, Gov. Brian Schweitzer's administration has been negotiating with the province on the future of the Flathead basin north and south of the border.

But those talks have stalled, with the province proposing an Environmental Action Plan for the basin that is unacceptable to the Schweitzer administration.

Schweitzer said at a January meeting in Kalispell that the matter needs to be taken to the federal level in both Canada and the United States.

"I was hoping that we could work this out with British Columbia directly," Schweitzer said at the time. "But for the life of me, I've been looking for the things that would amount to a collaborative agreement and I haven't seen anything that looks like a collaborative agreement."

Not long after, Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., convinced Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to pursue it with the Canadian government.

The dispute could result in the intervention of the International Joint Commission, a panel made up of U.S. and Canadian members who are charged with arbitrating disputes that arise over the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com