The resolution, which has no legal authority, is an indication of the group's increasing concern about ongoing energy exploration north of the border. Those worries were echoed recently by Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who called on energy executives to reconsider their plans in the Flathead.
Underscoring both the letter and the resolution were a pair of briefing papers issued this week by the Flathead Basin Commission, calling into question one company's commitment to environmental safety.
The Canadian Flathead, which flows from its headwaters through wildlands, is thought to contain the thickest population of inland grizzly bears south of Alaska. It then crosses the international line into Montana, forming the western border of Glacier National Park before spilling into Flathead Lake.
For three decades, energy companies have sought to mine coal and coalbed methane there, resulting in periodic disputes between British Columbia and Montana. Previous proposals have been scrapped after reviews by international teams of scientists raised alarms about transboundary pollution problems.
Most recently, Ontario-based Cline Mining Co. has proposed a mountaintop-removal coal mine in the Flathead's headwaters, a place biologists say is critical spawning habitat for Montana's protected bull trout. And BP Canada Energy Co. is seeking exploration approval for a large-scale coalbed methane project in the Canadian Flathead.
The Lake County Democrats' resolution questions the adequacy of Canada's environmental controls and the province's commitment to pre-project scientific review. It also warns of the cumulative effects of other projects, should the wilderness drainage become industrialized.
The group unanimously called for protecting the entire river basin with help from the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the Committee on Transboundary Protected Areas.
That type of solution seems unlikely, however, as provincial officials have indicated a hands-off approach to the Flathead is not currently acceptable.
But even as BP moves through the permitting process, watchdogs south of the border are sounding the alarm. The Flathead Basin Commission, a multi-agency group consisting of local, state, tribal and federal representatives, among others, was formed two decades ago to safeguard the Flathead Basin from pollution threats.
Last week, the commission released two briefing papers, both calling into question BP's safety record. The reports cite two cases - a March 2006 oil spill and a March 2005 refinery explosion - in which BP was thought to have compromised safety in the name of cost-cutting.
The oil spill was one of the largest tundra spills on Alaska's North Slope, dumping 267,000 gallons. The explosion, in Texas, killed 15 and injured 170, the commission reported.
In both cases, the reports show investigators believed BP's corporate cost-cutting measures contributed to the accidents. In Texas, the briefing paper shows the company was fined more than $21 million by safety regulators, and opponents to the Canadian methane project want assurances all safety measures will be funded and implemented.
Although BP representatives were not available to discuss the incidents, Tester did write to the company on Aug. 3, expressing his “serious reservations and opposition to BP Canada Energy Company's recent proposal to begin coalbed methane exploration in the headwaters of the Flathead River located in southeastern British Columbia.”
Tester notes the proximity of Glacier Park and Flathead Lake, stressing the importance of the river drainage to the region's overall biodiversity.
A member of the Senate Subcommittee on National Parks, Tester writes of the Flathead's “exceptional water quality and native trout species.” Residents rely upon recreation, including fishing and hunting, he wrote, as a primary economic engine, and the methane proposals represent an “unacceptable level of risk.”
The project, he wrote, would be prohibited south of the border, where the Flathead Basin enjoys the highest protective designations.
“I simply believe that coalbed methane is an inappropriate activity in this special place,” Tester wrote.
While the senator stops short of calling for blanket protections in the region, as have the Lake County Democrats, he does ask BP officials to reconsider and withdraw their methane project.
The company has said its $10 million exploration project will move ahead as scheduled.
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