Plan for coal mine near Glacier axed

HELENA — A British Columbia coal mine proposed for a site six miles north of Glacier National Park will not be allowed to move forward, the province’s minister of energy and mines said Friday.

“We’ve canceled the coal mine,” said Richard Neufeld. Concerns about the project pursued by Cline Mining Co. were too great to let it proceed, Neufeld added.

Montana had weighed in with concerns about the mine’s possible effects on water quality in the Flathead River system, which spans the international boundary. The North Fork of the Flathead, which flows into the United States from British Columbia, forms Glacier’s western boundary.

Some of the environmental issues that arose were the same ones that surfaced in the 1980s when mining at the site was proposed, and the idea subsequently was abandoned.

The latest proposal came from Canada’s Cline Mining Co., with a Japanese partner.

Neufeld said provincial officials decided to prohibit the mine after reviewing a 1988 study by an international commission that looked at water issues. The U.S. State Department recently said the findings by the International Joint Commission, which ruled that the mine would have violated an international water treaty, still stand, 16 years later.

“We decided it would be in the best interest of the region that it not proceed,” Neufeld said in a telephone interview. “I have an unhappy mining company on my hands.”

Calls seeking comment from Cline were not immediately returned Friday.

Gov. Judy Martz and the Montana-based Flathead Basin Coalition, which exists to monitor and protect water quality in the basin, said the decision about the mine ends concerns about its possible effects on the state. But both said concern remains about potential coal-bed methane development in southern British Columbia, activity that also has implications for Montana water.

“We’ll see what develops in that area,” said Chuck Butler, Martz’s spokesman.

Neufeld said the province wants to pursue coal-bed methane development in a manner that is environmentally safe.

He went to Fernie, B.C., this week primarily to talk about coal-bed methane extraction. It has become controversial in the coal town, which is acquiring a new image as a vacation destination that offers skiing, fishing and other outdoor recreation.

In Montana there had been a growing call for caution on both fronts — coal and coal-bed methane — as officials contemplated the future of the Flathead Valley, one of the state’s most scenic and popular places. Environmental activists and some government officials suddenly found themselves part of the same chorus.

Montana’s pro-industry governor wanted the International Joint Commission to assess the cumulative environmental effects of the mine and coal-bed methane drilling. Martz requested British Columbia not permit either without first obtaining findings from the commission.

British Columbia’s desire to work with Montana on transboundary issues was a consideration in deciding against the mine, Neufeld said.

Earlier this week Cline’s president, Ken Bates, made light of reports the company expected to fast-track a mine and be at full operation within a few years.

“The reality is we have not finished our work and we are not in a position to say what we propose,” Bates said Wednesday. “When will it be definitive? I’m not sure. It depends on what we find.”

It went without saying that any mining should occur in an environmentally safe way, he said.

“We should all have nice, clean watersheds,” Bates said. “Why should I live in a watershed that’s crappy and you live in one that’s lovely?”