"They're basically saying they agree with us," said Barrett Kaiser, "which is a huge step forward to protecting this treasured place."
Kaiser is spokesman for Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., who on April 30 wrote a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Canadian coal mining first raised eyebrows in Montana back in the 1970s, when a proposal was floated to operate two open-pit strip mines just five miles north of Glacier National Park.
People in Montana's Flathead Valley and throughout the state worried that water contamination from the proposed mines would trickle south of the border. The mine site was located in the headwaters of the North Fork Flathead River, which flows south to Flathead Lake, forming the western border of Glacier Park.
Local, state and federal agencies pushed for a review of the project, and in the early 1980s Baucus wrote to the State Department requesting intervention by the International Joint Commission.
The IJC, which represents both countries, is charged with resolving transboundary water disputes. The commission can only intervene with referral from both the U.S. State Department and Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs.
The two federal governments made the referrals, and the IJC conducted a four-year investigation into the likely impacts of coal mining at the border. The two countries, through the IJC, concluded in 1988 that the risks to water quality were too great, and made a unanimous recommendation that the project be abandoned.
Since then, Toronto-based Cline Mining Corp. has purchased the rights to mine coal north of Glacier, and earlier this spring announced plans to begin digging. The scope of the project - some 2 million tons of coal per year for 20 years - is approximately the same as the proposal from 20 years ago.
In addition, the British Columbia government has announced plans to tap coal bed methane fields in the same area, heightening unease south of the border regarding downstream water impacts.
This spring, Baucus was joined by Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., and others in again asking the State Department to make a referral to the IJC.
On Wednesday, Powell's office responded, saying "the United States Government has informed the Government of Canada that we consider that the IJC's previous analysis and conclusions on development in the Flathead River Basin still stands."
The letter - penned by Paul Kelly, assistant secretary of legislative affairs at the State Department - goes on to promise that Powell's office will "continue to monitor this situation."
It falls short of promising an IJC referral, which is not surprising to those in Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs.
"Any kind of diplomatic request such as this takes time," said Andre Lemay, spokesperson for Foreign Affairs in Ottawa.
Lemay pointed out that, to date, no specific coal development proposal is on the table. Although Cline Mining Corp. President Ken Bates has requested a permit to explore the area, and although he has repeatedly told the press he expects full production within the next two to three years, he has not yet filed an application to operate a full-fledged mine.
Likewise, although the British Columbia government has said it will sell coal bed methane rights to interested companies, none of those companies has submitted specific development plans.
Until a solid proposal is on the table, Lemay said, it's hard to imagine what the two federal governments would ask the IJC to review.
"In this case," Lemay said, "obviously, people are very concerned. If this project were allowed to go ahead, it would have to, beforehand, go through an environmental review process of many steps."
Lemay said U.S. concerns that environmental processes could be circumvented were unfounded. British Columbia does have a "fast-track" rule that provides shortcuts for resource development projects, he said, but because the waters in question flow across the border, they are under federal jurisdiction.
And Canada's federal law, he said, does not allow for "fast-track" approvals.
"When there is a formal mining request," he said, "there will be a very public environmental process."
Lemay also said that even if companies purchase methane rights from British Columbia, those rights do not guarantee that a specific project will be allowed. He cited other instances in which companies held rights, but were barred from developing those rights due to subsequent environmental concerns.
Were companies to make specific proposals, he said, the IJC could well become involved again, as could panels created to enforce the North American Free Trade Agreement. NAFTA, he said, contains provisions that prohibit Canada, the United States, or Mexico from creating environmental problems in each other's lands in their efforts to expand business.
"There are many avenues that could be pursued," Lemay said. "You can bet people are watching this with great interest."
Reporter Michael Jamison can be reached at 1-800-366-7186 or at mjamison@missoulian.com
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