By Will Hammerquist on 01-15-08
Ø As Montanans we should be very concerned over the proposed industrial mining activities and coalfield developments by BP Energy Corporation and Cline Mining in the Canadian Flathead Valley North of Glacier National Park.
Ø North of Polebridge, Montana this remote area is internationally recognized as a key river valley for Montana big game and wildlife species. The Canadian headwater are also key spawning ground for threatened Bulltrout and genetically pure Cuttrout Trout.
The North Fork of the Flathead is internationally recogized as as both the wildest and pristine river in the Continential United States. Reserve. Industrialization of this special place will harm Glacier, Flathead River and Lake and the greater Crown of the Continent—things that we all love and share. These are international treasures that must be protected—not polluted.
Ø Canada must protect this special place from industrial mineral mines, open-pit coalmining and toxic coalbed methane water that will harm the Glacier National Park and Flathead Lake and be in violation of international law.
What are the threats?
Ø Cline Mining Corporation is proposing to put an open-pit coalmine, just 25 miles upstream of Glacier National Park. The mine would remove a mountaintop to create an open pit mine, settling ponds, and waste dumps in a pristine valley. Contaminated waste from the mine would flow into the Flathead River, ruining water quality industrializing one of the wildest landscapes in North America, and threatening the fish and wildlife of Glacier National Park
Ø BP Energy Corporation has proposed a massive coalbed methane project (123,500 acres) that would require a dense network of roads, pipelines, and wells producing hundreds of millions of gallons of toxic wastewater that is proven fatal to fish.
Ø The British Columbia Government has issued test drillings permits in the Flathead Valley for another potential coalmine and other mining companies have conducted test drilling for phosphate, gold and other minerals.
What is at stake?
Ø The Transboundary Flathead River is one of the most wild, biologically rich places in the world. The river originates in British Columbia and flows south into Montana where it forms the western boundary of Glacier National Park.
Ø The Flathead Valley and River form the very heart of the greater Crown-of-the-Continent—the most pristine and protected ecosystem in America. The Canadian Flathead is a magical place of great wildness that has never been settled by humans. It is home to wolves, grizzly bears, wolverines, and lynx. Now big energy corporations—like BP of Canada—want to change this and industrialize the pristine headwaters..
By Will Hammerquist on 01-15-08
Every ton coal that would be mined over the 20 years by Cline will be loaded into cargo ships at the Port of Vancouver destined for communist China to fuel that country’s insatiable demand for steel. This coal mining will harm Montana water, contribute to global warming and result in deposition of heavy metal, like Mercury in our mountain lakes.
China now hold $1.4 trillion in United States debt. Do we have to give them our river as well?
By snow_girl_1983 on 01-16-08
BC needs to wake up. And I thought Canada cared about the environment! Maybe we should boycott the 2010 Winter Olympics. I think they are going to be held in BC.
Save Glacier!!
By Rex on 01-18-08
Oh for crissakes…a friggin coal mine isn’t gonna hurt a da%n thing…if ya wanna freeze in the dark, go ahead, just don’t take other Montanans with ya, fruitcakes.You don’t like nuclear, ya don’t like hydro…what a bunch of freaks….
By John on 01-20-08
Well, Rex I don’t see what a coal mine for Chinese steel plants have to do with keeping the lights on… But I do know that the coalmines in the Elk River next door have harmed that river. I know a local family from Fernie and they told me 10 years ago that they would never eat fish from the Elk. I dont think we should risk the harm to the Flathead. For what? Canadian jobs and Chinese steel? Sounds like a bad deal to me…
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