From the Thursday, June 17, 2004 issue of the Missoulian . . .
Business leaders in the Flathead Valley remain concerned about Canadian energy development plans, particularly a proposal to tap coal bed methane fields just north of Glacier National Park.
This week, the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce passed a resolution requesting the CBM plans be shelved until an international environmental assessment is completed.
The resolution, passed by the chamber's board Tuesday, raises concerns that British Columbia's gas well proposal "lacks sufficient study to proceed without risking impairment to the quality of water that flows into Montana."
It echoes resolutions passed by the city of Fernie, British Columbia, and Montana's Flathead Basin Commission.
The Basin Commission - members of which include top brass from various state and federal agencies - was created some two decades back, in response to another Canadian energy development threatening Montana water quality. That plan, to strip mine coal along Glacier's northern border, was killed after a review by the International Joint Commission.
The IJC - charged with resolving transboundary water disputes - recommended the Canadian coal mine be abandoned.
This spring, a similar coal mining plan was announced by Toronto-based Cline Mining Corp., but British Columbia's government refused to permit the venture amid outcry from Montana and Washington, D.C.
Part of that outcry included the Flathead Basin Commission resolution, which called for IJC review of both the coal mine proposal and British Columbia's plan to develop coal bed methane in the area.
Concerns south of the border now focus on CBM wastewater quality and quantity. The gas is found along underground coal seams, trapped there by a cap of groundwater. To release the gas, aquifers are dewatered.
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