From the Sunday, February 13, 2005 online edition of the Missoulian . . .
(Read the entire article, folks, it's important. Mr. Jamison places the transboundary waters issue in the overall diplomatic context of current relations between the U.S. and Canada.)
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer has waded into a decades-old transboundary water dispute between the United States and Canada, asking British Columbia to delay energy development until environmental studies can be completed.
In a Feb. 7 letter to provincial Premier Gordon Campbell, Schweitzer called for formalizing an environmental cooperation agreement between the state and the province. He also asked Campbell to join an international effort to collect environmental data in the Canadian Flathead before moving ahead with coal and coal-bed methane projects.
Calling Montana's Flathead and the area directly north of the border "a globally significant landscape," Schweitzer said the environmental and economic values of the region "are too great to embark upon new industrial energy production without the benefit of a comprehensive baseline assessment."
At issue are provincial lands north of Glacier National Park, in the Canadian Flathead. Headwaters there feed into the North Fork Flathead River, which forms Glacier National Park's western boundary before spilling into Flathead Lake. . .
Schweitzer's letter came the same week that relations between British Columbia and its southern neighbors were strained by word that the Canadian government is seeking "retaliation" for what it sees as unfair trade practices concerning softwood timber imports. . .
Add to the mix an ongoing argument over importation of Canadian cattle, and the stage seems set for future battles between the state and province. . .
Read the entire article . . .
Posted by nfpa at February 13, 2005 03:26 AM