From the Thursday, July 15, 2004 issue of the Missoulian . . .
HELENA, Mont. - British Columbia's oil and gas commissioner said Wednesday that the province will go ahead with plans to auction parcels of coal-rich land near the U.S. border.
"We have two different countries, two different forms of government and two different roads" when it comes to coal-bed methane development, said Derek Doyle.
Doyle and other Canadian officials met with Montana resource officials to discuss the July 8 opening of an auction for "tenure," or rights to explore the potential for coal-bed methane drilling, on tracts north of Glacier National Park, at the headwaters of the Flathead River Basin.
Montana officials, along with the Montana-based Flathead Basin Commission, had asked for a bi-national environmental, social and economic study to examine impacts prior to the CBM project.
During a meeting later Wednesday, David Thomas, a member of the City Council in Fernie, British Columbia, said Montana should appeal to the Canadian government under that country's Environmental Assessment Act. A portion of the law allows neighboring territories to ask for a study when there are cross-border interests. Thomas warned that after Aug. 25, when the deals are expected to be sealed on the tracts, it might be too late to stop development.
Rich Moy, chief of the Montana Water Resources Bureau, said he thinks using the Canadian law is consistent with Montana's recent requests for a study.
Moy earlier showed Doyle and other Canadian officials the several-hundred page Environmental Impact Statement regarding coal-bed methane exploration in the Powder River Basin, suggesting that British Columbia could do something similar.
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