From the Thursday, August 19, 2004 issue of the Headwaters News . . .
A team of Canadian attorneys have added their voices to the choir of people calling for environmental study prior to coalbed methane exploration in British Columbia. At issue are potential gas fields north of Glacier National Park and Koocanusa Reservoir, with downstream interests in Montana worrying that wastewater could pollute rivers and affect fisheries south of the border, and gaswell sites could disrupt transboundary wildlife corridors.
"It makes sense to study this in advance," said Karen Campbell, staff counsel for West Coast Environmental Law, based in Vancouver, B.C.
On Tuesday, Campbell fired a letter to Piere Pettigrew, Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Stephan Dion, Minister of the Environment, asking that Ottawa intervene in British Columbia's CBM plans.
Specifically, Campbell's letter requests that Canada's federal government invoke the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, appointing a federal panel to study potential environmental impacts prior to CBM development.
Read the entire article . . .