PRESS RELEASE: Flathead Coalition Revives in Response to Canadian Coal Mine, Coalbed Methane Plans
For Immediate Release, May 10, 2004 Contact: Dick Kuhl, 257-5793
What: Meeting to revive the Flathead Coalition
Why: To protect the Flathead's clean waters, wildlife and Glacier National Park from mining pollution
When: Thursday, May 20, 2004, 7 p.m.
Where: KM Building Mezzanine Meeting Room
A 30-year-old coalition of Flathead sportsmen, businesses and community organizations will be revitalized this month to advocate for the Flathead's clean waters, the North Fork Valley, and Glacier National Park in response to a proposed open-pit coal mine and coalbed methane development in the Canadian headwaters of the Flathead River system.
The Flathead Coalition Board of Directors is inviting all past member organizations, newly interested groups and concerned citizens to attend a reorganization meeting on May 20 in Kalispell to re-launch the grassroots campaign that helped defeat the proposed Sage Creek coal mine in 1988.
"We're going to hop back on this horse and ride again," said Dick Kuhl, current president of the Flathead Coalition, which has been inactive since 1989. The group has maintained its corporate status as a Montana non-profit organization, Kuhl said, in case the mine proposal ever was advanced again. "It looks like our community will need to come together with one voice again to insist that our clean water, wildlife, the North Fork, and Glacier National Park are not impacted by ill-advised industrial energy development in Canada."
The Flathead Coalition was formed in 1975 to press for "zero pollution of the Flathead" in response to the proposed Sage Creek mine, recalls Coalition founder and Kalispell resident Wayne Herman, who continues to serve on the group's Board of Directors. The group has been inactive since shortly after an international commission determined in 1988 that pollution from the Sage Creek coal mine six miles north of Glacier National Park would violate the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty between the United States and Canada.
The coalition's revival is the result of the Cline Mining Corporation's acquisition of the Sage Creek coal property and its announcement, along with the Japanese conglomerate, Mitsui Matsushima, that it intends to fast-track the mine into full production within two to three years.
"This coalition brought together broad segments of our community who typically were not in agreement about various community issues. But this mining threat to our waters was a unifying issue back in the 1970s and 1980s," said Herman. "I'm confident that this community will come together again to help keep this valley special.
Flathead Coalition members going back to the 1970s included sportsman groups in Montana and British Columbia, Chambers of Commerce, service clubs, professional associations, conservation groups and tribes.
Former Flathead Coalition Executive Director and retired FVCC professor Lex Blood applauded recent initiatives by Sen. Max Baucus and the Flathead Basin Commission seeking an international review of the economic, social and environmental impacts of the Sage Creek mine and proposed coalbed methane drilling in the Canadian headwaters of the Flathead. Both Baucus and the Flathead Basin Commission provided important leadership on this issue in the 1980s, he noted.
"We've been down this path before, so we don't have to reinvent the wheel," Blood said. "We have to organize ourselves, work cooperatively with our Canadian allies, and make sure that our voices are heard in the halls of power."
The May 20 meeting will include an update on the current coal-mining and coalbed methane development proposals in the Canadian Flathead, and steps being taken in Montana and Canada to address public concerns. Board members will summarize the history of the grassroots Flathead Coalition, then open the meeting up to participant discussion about revitalizing the Coalition and activities it might undertake.