From the Friday, August 6, 2004 issue of the Missoulian . . .
A leader of Canada's methane gas industry called for caution this week, saying British Columbia shouldn't move too fast in its push to develop gas fields north of Glacier National Park.
"The concept of fast-tracking a project like this makes no sense," Michael Gatens told Canada's National Post. "These kinds of projects in such environmentally sensitive areas are going to take a lot of time to even make the decision to develop."
Gatens chairs the Canadian Society for Unconventional Gas, a trade group with a mission to "support the exploration and development" of methane and other gas resources.
He also is CEO of MGV Energy Inc., a Calgary-based coalbed methane producer.
And those strong industry affiliations are exactly why eyebrows lifted on both sides of the border when he announced his position in the national press.
"I feel totally vindicated in the position we've been taking," said Ted Ralfe, a resident of Fernie, British Columbia, and member of Citizens Concerned About Coalbed Methane. "Our position has been that the precautionary principle should guide this exploration. And basically, that's what the industry itself is saying should happen."
In fact, what industry is saying by way of Gatens is that a minimum of three to five years of environmental study will be needed before the province entertains any ideas of gas field development.
During that time, he told the Missoulian, scientific study - including some test wells - should help pin down baseline data, "the kind of data that absolutely needs to be collected."
That is pretty much in line with requests from concerned downstream residents in Montana, and also jibes with a study commissioned by British Columbia's government.
That report, prepared by Summit Environmental Consultants Ltd. for the province's Ministry of Energy and Mines, indicated a current lack of scientific information about the areas in which the province proposes gas exploration.
"This is potentially a critical information gap," the report concludes, "and baseline water quality monitoring will very likely be needed for at least three years before CBG (coalbed gas) development."
But British Columbia's government has dismissed the report as "their professional opinion," saying the province's auction of methane fields will continue as scheduled, closing Aug. 25.
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