This is the lead story in the Thursday, July 15, 2004 issue of the Missoulian . . .
HELENA - Officials from British Columbia told Montana leaders Wednesday they will not study the possible environmental problems of drilling for coal-bed methane near the headwaters of the Flathead River - as Gov. Judy Martz and the state's congressional delegation have requested.
A city official from Fernie, British Columbia - which also asked the provincial government to study the methane drilling - has now asked the state of Montana to go straight to Ottawa, the seat of Canadian government, with the state's requests for an environmental study.
Earlier this month, the government of British Columbia, which borders northwest Montana, announced it was auctioning the coal-bed methane exploration rights for two parcels of land north of Glacier National Park. One of the parcels contains the headwaters of the Flathead River, which runs south into some of the most prized wildlands in Montana and the United States - Glacier National Park, its surrounding national forests and Flathead Lake.
The auction ends Aug. 25.
Several British Columbia officials representing the province's Ministry of Energy and Mines, its Oil and Gas Commission and Water, Land and Air Protection ministry met Wednesday with Montana leaders to discuss the state's concerns with industrial activity just over the border from sensitive lands in the United States.
Save for the Waterton Peace Park in Alberta, most of the Canadian Rockies immediately north of Glacier National Park are not federally protected in Canada.
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