Groups express concern about coal-bed plans

Several Montana conservation groups are concerned about plans to expand a coal-bed methane operation with continued discharge of wastewater into an Elk River tributary.

And, a mining company was reportedly test drilling last month for phosphate deposits in the Cabin Creek area, a tributary to the North Fork Flathead River.

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., said he recently learned that the company, which he did not identify, drilled test wells from Oct. 18 to 23, with permission from the provincial government.

"The threats are mounting," Baucus said. "It's time for the Canadian government to step up and do the right thing. It's time for Canadian officials to stiffen their spines and for once say, 'no.'"

A potential phosphate mining project comes on top of two other potential projects in the headwaters of the North Fork: British Petroleum's coal bed methane exploration plans and an open pit coal mining project that has been proposed by the Cline Mining Co.

"Some places should be off limits," Baucus said. "How many proposals will they let come across their desks? At what point does this stop?"

Baucus has been waging an effort to block mining development in the Canadian Flathead because there are no economic benefits for Montana, he says, only downstream environmental impacts.

Cabin Creek was part of a "coal land reserve" that was established by the provincial government in 2004, effectively putting a 10-year moratorium on coal mining in that area. Phosphate mining would violate the spirit of the moratorium, Baucus claims.

Baucus was active in an effort to stop a coal-mining proposal in the Cabin Creek area in the 1980s.

Meanwhile, several Montana groups are alarmed by the British Columbia Oil and Gas Commission's decision to allow a coal-bed methane operation to expand with wastewater being discharged into a tributary of the Elk River, which flows into Lake Koocanusa, a transboundary reservoir.

Storm Cat Energy Corp. recently announced plans to expand pilot operations on Britt Creek into a commercial production phase. That would involve drilling seven additional methane wells and building a gas cleaning and compression facility and a pipeline. It is the first coal-bed methane operation in B.C.

The National Parks Conservation Association, the Flathead Coalition, the Montana Wilderness Association and the North Fork Preservation Association contend that surface discharge of wastewater will have adverse effects on the Elk River and ultimately Lake Koocanusa.

And the groups maintain the surface discharge runs contrary to a provincial policy that states: "Companies will not be allowed to surface discharge produced water."

Rather, coal-bed methane operations are required to "reinject" wastewater into the ground.

"Allowing Storm Cat to move to commercial production and continue the practice of surface discharge is in direct violation of B.C.'s much-touted B.C. Energy Plan," said Will Hammerquist, Glacier program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association.

Hammerquist and others in Montana are concerned that reinjecting wastewater may not be possible in the porous Flathead floodplain where BP Canada has proposed methane exploration.

On Tuesday, there was a public meeting in Fernie, B.C., to discuss BP Canada's coal-bed methane plans. Hammerquist said the meeting attracted about 200 people.

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell are planning a joint summit to be held in December or early next year to discuss development issues in the Canadian Flathead.

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