From the Sunday, April 23, 2006 online edition of the Missoulian . . .
A second coal mining project has been granted permission to begin digging and drilling north of Glacier National Park, increasing concerns among downstream communities that Canadian energy exploration could taint one of Montana's wildest corners.
“We were told not to worry,” said Rich Moy, “that it's no big deal.”
Moy is chief of the state's Water Management Bureau and chairs the Flathead Basin Commission. At a recent commission meeting, he said, British Columbia officials announced they had granted an exploratory permit for the Lillyburt coal field.
“It's quite minimal,” said Kathy Eichenberger, provincial liaison to the commission. The permit is good from July through October, she said, and allows the mining company to drill 13 holes, removing an unspecified amount of coal for further testing.
[...]
Several companies are active throughout the Canadian Flathead; closest to Glacier Park, Eastfield Resources holds a gold mining exploratory permit for lands about six miles north of the border, and the company has plans for drilling, trenching and sampling.
About 10 miles farther north, seismic crews have been testing for oil and gas. Still north of there is the Cline mine site at Foisey Creek.
And just east of Foisey Creek is the Lillyburt coal field, down low on the valley floor, the spot where Moose Mountain Member Corp. now has a license to explore.
“That particular one is completely ludicrous, because it's right in the floodplain of the river,” said Jack Stanford, a research scientist who for years has studied and monitored lake and river waters in Montana's Flathead Valley. He also is among those charged with reviewing Cline's mining permit request.
“I just don't get it,” he said of the Lillyburt exploration. “We're wasting our time if we're going to evaluate sites like that. It's ridiculous.”
But perhaps not so ridiculous to those in British Columbia who see vast economic potential in the Flathead's undeveloped energy reserves.
Read the entire article . . .
Posted by nfpa at April 23, 2006 07:46 AM