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Canada mine proposal raises downriver fear

Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

KALISPELL, Mont. – The four-state Northwest Power and Conservation Council has endorsed a letter raising concerns about negative effects of potential coal mining north of Glacier National Park.

Montana’s two representatives on the council drafted the letter, which was discussed at the council’s meeting in Vancouver, Wash. The letter will be sent to British Columbia’s Environmental Assessment Office in Victoria.

“The Northwest Power and Conservation Council is deeply concerned about the potential of negative down-river impacts to fish, wildlife and overall water conditions in the Flathead and Columbia basins from the proposed Cline Mine just north of the Montana-British Columbia border on the North Fork of the Flathead River,” the letter said. “The council extensively funds mitigation projects for critical species in the Flathead drainage, including bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout, which will be impacted by the proposed mine.”

Bruce Measure, one of the council’s Montana representatives, said there was “much discussion” on the matter, most of it focusing on how much the council has invested in improving fisheries and fishery habitat in the Flathead Basin.

The council serves Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington and is charged by Congress with balancing the needs of fish and wildlife with the need for affordable and reliable hydropower.

About $13.5 million has been spent on fisheries in the Flathead basin in the past decade, according to estimates by Brian Marotz, fisheries mitigation manager for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

The provincial government has prepared draft terms and conditions that would be required in operating the mine. Montana officials have found the draft to be unsatisfactory, and the council has taken a similar position.

“The council is concerned that the information currently gathered is insufficient to accurately determine the impacts of the proposed Cline mine on fish, wildlife and other resources of the Flathead and beyond,” the letter said.