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Today's News
October 28, 2005: Coal mine plans upset enviros
Coal mine plans upset enviros
Associated Press
October 27, 2005
KALISPELL - A Canadian mining company plans to apply for a permit by the end of next month to establish a coal mine in the northern reaches of Montana's Flathead River system.
Cline Mining Corp. confirmed its intention at a meeting in Fernie, British Columbia, last week to pursue a small-mine permit to extract up to 250,000 tons of coking coal each year from the site in the Foisey Creek basin. The company has said production would eventually expand to 2 million tons annually, and plans to begin development on the mine next spring.
The confirmation drew rapid opposition on both sides of the border.
Environmental groups the Flathead Coalition, based in Montana's Flathead Valley, and Wildsight in Canada urged British Columbia officials to deny the permit.
The company clearly intends to build a large mine, making application for a small-mine permit inappropriate, said David Thomas of Fernie, a Flathead Coalition board member and Fernie City Council member.
Thomas and others also contend the review required under a small-mine permit is far less extensive than a large-scale permit.
"This mine in Foisey Creek would have a huge impact on the local environment and on local recreation businesses and real estate markets," he said. "It is a major project that should trigger full government and public review under the Environmental Assessment Act."
British Columbia officials have said they have the authority to deny a small-mine permit and require an environmental assessment and full public review of the project.
Officials at nearby Glacier National Park said they planned to weigh in on mining in the area.
"We're certainly very concerned about transboundary impacts on water and fisheries," said Brace Hayden, Glacier's regional issues specialist. "We know a lot about the importance of that area to elk, grizzly bears and moose. We know it's a very productive area, and we are certainly going to be involved."
The location of the proposed mine is an area that has been under dispute by the United States and Canada for decades, since coal mining was first proposed there in the late 1970s. Downstream interests have long worried that industrial pollution could taint pristine Montana waters.
In a meeting with the British Columbia premier last month, Gov. Brian Schweitzer expressed interest in a baseline study of current water, wildlife and fisheries conditions in the basin, and said he came away confident that Premier Gordon Campbell was agreeable to pursuing such a study.
It would take at least three years to carry out an adequate baseline study of the area, said Dan Short, representing the board of directors for Flathead Trout Unlimited, and Erin Sexton of the Glacier field office for the National Parks Conservation Association.
http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?display=rednews/2005/10/27/build/state/50-coal-mine.inc
Topic(s): mining news, parks and wilderness news, Pollution and Waste News, Wildlife News
Posted By ECOBC
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