British Columbia industrial development ban ends 36-year dispute over Flathead

Controversy began 1n 1974-

Well what a cause for celebration this is!  I can remember I was just starting to explore the wild country as a young man back in 1974 when Sage Creek Coal proposed a big coal mine on Cabin Creek, a tributary to the North Fork of the Flathead.  In 2008 I was standing in this incredible place and pondering how awful the giant coal pit and adjacent coalbed methane wells would be.  I never suspected the B.C. government would side with conservation on this.

B.C’s ban on industrial development in N. Fork Flathead ends a 36-year international struggle. By Michael Jamison. Missoulian.

Great News! British Columbia says no mining in North Fork Flathead River

After years of controversy, B.C. to ban  mining, energy development in critical headwaters of famed river near Glacier National Park-

I have been worried about this for years, and posted many articles. Every month is seemed a new, massive environmentally destructive scheme was proposed for the North Fork.

Now British Columbia Lt. Gov. Steven Point says the North Fork Flathead River drainage will be off limits to mining and energy extraction in a speech to the B.C.  Parliament. Let’s hope the details don’t have loopholes.

British Columbia declares Canadian North Fork off limits to mining, energy development. By Rob Chaney. Missoulian
New article added on 2-11-2010. British Columbia Bans Mining, Drilling in Flathead River Valley. Environment News Service. This article gives additional information efforts to further protect area, something that was raised in the comments.

Photos (with locations)
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/14392571
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/14315354
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/14422009
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/14511373
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/14392898
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/14393086
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/14415878
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/15215649
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/15216233

Salt Lake Tribune doesn’t like coal strip mine between two UT national parks

Proposal is for a six square mile strip mine between Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks-

Initial plans are for 635 acre mine (one square mile) and would expand to over 6 square miles. The notion of a mine here has been floating around for years. Now it is serious.

Coal mine. Trucks could hurt Kane tourism. Salt Lake Tribune Editorial

Enviros Blast Obama’s Choice for Office of Surface Mining

Another controversial Obama appointment

This time, environmentalists are angered with Obama’s choice for Office of Surface Mining Reclamation, and Enforcement.

Enviros Blast Obama’s Choice for Office of Surface Mining – ENS

For the past 17 years Pizarchik has been engaged in Pennsylvania’s mining program, first as legal counsel and then as the director of the Bureau of Mining and Reclamation.

During his tenure at Pennsylvania’s Bureau of Mining and Reclamation, says [Jeff] Ruch [Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility], “Pizarchik has hewn a solidly pro-industry line on topics such as acid mine drainage, subsidence from longwall mining and using mining slag as valley fill.”

United Nations Will Study Threats to Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park

Finally some international pressure on the coal pit/coalbed methane proposals just northwest of Glacier (and Waterton) National Parks-

United Nations Will Study Threats to Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. By Dan Testa, Flathead Beacon (in New West)

San Juan coal plant celebrates pollution control upgrades

New controls complete after more than 60,000 air quality violations-

New controls. Farmington (NM) Daily Times.

This has long been a major polluter of the air and water of the 4-Corners country of the southwest.

Ely, Nevada coal-fired power plant plan formally withdrawn

It’s good to see the sucker finally dead!

Ely coal-fired power plant plan withdrawn. AP  in the Reno Gazette Journal.

UN to consider petition against the planned coal development that will endanger Glacier National Park and Waterton National Park

The massive Foisey Creek coal development in B.C. (the Lodgepole coal pit and 2000 coal bed methane wells) is becoming an international issue.

UN to hear petition. The Globe and Mail. By Mark Hume.

Earlier in this blog.

5/15/09. North Fork Flathead plight in U.N. spotlight
9/5/08. Another coal mine planned near the upper Flathead River?
6/9/08. Obama opposes B.C. coal mine near Glacier National Park
3/1/08. Bordering on Catastrophe (more on plans to industrialize the area near Glacier NP)
2/19/08. Montana leaders to get update on Canadian energy plans just north of the border
5/24/2007. Huge B.C. coal mine that would drain into Montana gets attention from Condoleeza Rice
What a coal pit mine in the Canadian Rockies looks like. This is about 20 miles NE near Sparwood, B. C.

Foisey Ridge, British Columbia. The mountain would be turned into a pit with thousands of “step out” coal bed methane wells and associated roads. The North Fork of the Flathead River rises on this ridge. You can see dust from a big logging operation on the left (clearing off the mountain for mining?). Photo taken by copyright © Ralph Maughan. Oct. 2008.

Obama’s EPA clears 42 of 48 New Mountaintop Removal Mining Permits

Back East, things aren’t looking much better for the environment-
See below

Obama’s EPA clears 42 of 48 New Mountaintop Removal Mining Permits

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Obama administration has cleared more than three-dozen new mountaintop removal permits for issuance by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, drawing quick criticism from environmental groups who had hoped the new president would halt the controversial practice.

Salazar is drilling home renewables’ new power

The great misfortune of “renewables” seems to be that wildlife habitat is expendable…

Salazar is drilling home renewables’ new power.By Michael Riley. The Denver Post

Coal plants checked by enviro campaigns, costs

Good news for energy and wildlife-

It is increasingly clear that the building of new coal plants is collapsing as this article indicates as a followup to my post of yesterday, Companies rethink coal plants.

While planning and some actual construction of wind, solar and geothermal plants in remote locations continues, with plenty of hype accompanyhing it, it seems to me that as in the 1970s energy crisis, it will be increased efficiency that wins the day. For example, read this story about building a “smart energy grid.” Stimulus Dollars Energize Efforts To Smarten Up the Electric Power Grid. By Peter Slevin and Steven Mufson. Washington Post.

Building new transmission lines is enormously expensive, and even large solar or wind farms do not supply all that much energy compared to a coal or nuclear plant. Therefore, I am thinking most of these wind and solar electricity facilities will be built next to, or near already existing transmission lines and in or near load centers such as on building roof tops.

The currently largest solar-steam electricity plant in the United States is Solar One. located just south of Henderson and Boulder City, Nevada. I drove by it the other day. See below. It takes up a lot of space and yet “largest” only means generation of 74 megawatts. The typical coal plant today is built in units of 500 to 750 megawatts. I also noticed that Solar One was located right next to a transmission line coming from Hoover Dam on the Colorado.

The Solar One steam-electric plant in Eldorado Valley, Nevada. Feb. 2009. Notice the big transmission line behind the plant. It comes from nearby Hoover Dam. Copyright © Ralph Maughan

Awful as the “great recession” has become, one bright side is that it decreases the demand for electricity from what it would otherwise be. This makes is so that lack of electrical energy is not a barrier to economic recovery.

The disruption to wildlife habitat will be less than many believe, despite some scary proposals on the table such as China Mountain on the Idaho/Nevada border, which may indeed be built.

Companies rethink coal plants

Many planned coal plants are now being scrapped-

Companies rethink coal plants. By Traci Watson, USA Today.

Planned new coal plants are dropping by the scores. However, the majority of electricity in the U.S. is produced by coal, and many by old, and therefore more polluting plants like the one below.

On my recent trip to the Arizona region, I noticed the utilities had really taken advantage of the Indian nations of NE Arizona and NW New Mexico and packed the place with coal plants. The air quality was good, however, but I think that was because the jet stream was directly overhead when I passed through taking the emissions rapidly off to the east.

The Coronado coal-fired steam electric plant on the Navajo Reservation. March 2009. Copyright Ralph Maughan

Clean Coal Air Freshener

Now with a new and improved label! New Reality ad directed by the Academy-award winning Coen Brothers.

Obama’s EPA puts hold on South Dakota coal plant

Wow, quick action! Lisa Jackson was just confirmed the new EPA Administrator-

Obama’s EPA Raises Objections to South Dakota Coal Power Plant. By Catherine Dodge. Bloomberg.com

Grijalva steps up to bat on another Bush Interior ‘midnight regulation’

Grijalva steps up to the plate and goes to bat against another Bush Interior “midnight regulation” aimed at looting sacred water for the Peabody Western Coal Company while tribes perform spiritual ceremonies. Dang, if you listen close – that sounds like a John Prine endorsement to me !

Early Fall Float on North Fork of the Flathead (my conservation commentary w/photos)

An Early Fall Float on the North Fork of the Flathead

This New West article with great photos describes floating the beautiful North Fork of the Flathead from its origin in British Columbia downstream to the US border??

I linked to it because I was just there in BC to investigate, and a lot is unsaid in the article.

The North Fork of the Flathead is often described as the wildest of the 3 forks of the Flathead. It isn’t, although it is very beautiful. The Middle Fork of the Flathead in Montana is completely contained inside of designated Wildernesses or roadless areas.

The North Fork, however, is completely unprotected. A number of timber sales can be seen on nearby, and especially more distant slopes, and a number of dirt or gravel roads penetrate the area, leading to the poor and deteriorating road along the North Fork itself.

Utah BLM isn’t responding to the needs of sportsmen

Utah BLM isn’t responding to the needs of sportsmen. By Dan Potts, Chris Thomas and Joel Webster. Salt Lake Tribune.

That’s because the BLM has been directed to focus on energy more than ever (it’s not they did much for wildlife or recreation in the past).

Obama opposes B.C. coal mine near Glacier National Park

Rescue may be on the way to the threatened wild country just north of the U.S. border in British Columbia. It depends on the outcome of the U.S. election.

Some folks on this forum, including myself, have complained about the failure by the candidates to talk about specific conservation issues. Obama’s positiion was announced when he was campaining in the Montana primary election.

These open pit coal mine/coalbed methane plans in the North Fork of the Flathead River don’t seem to have support anywhere in Montana because all of the costs flow into Montana and none of the benefits. Many, of course, are concerned about the inherent value of this wonderful wild country.

Story in Canada.com. Obama opposes B.C. coal mine. Canwest News Service

On Energy Development, Hunters and Anglers Push Back

On Energy Development, Hunters and Anglers Push Back. By Chris Hunt. New West.

Hunt also introduces us to a new group, Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development.

Proposed dam on Cache la Poudre River is controversial in Fort Collins, Colorado

Divide develops over dam. A proposed $431 million dam and reservoir project north of Fort Collins riles those who see it as a disastrous strangling of the picturesque Cache la Poudre River. By Michael Booth. The Denver Post.

The dam is said to be justified by projected growth of new homes. Instead it is a massive subsidy for the continuation of a bad idea and an economy destroying practice.

The governments in this country are having a hard time adjusting to the fact that the home building boom is over. Now they should take a “time out” and consider all they have done to facilitate the creation of an unsustainable hosing market directed at the upper class and the upper middle class* — how many resources were unnecessarily sacrificed. They also need to consider their ethics, or more likely lack thereof, and get out of bed with the developers.

The dollar’s international value is now a joke and the inventory of unsold homes is at least a year from being filled. Nevertheless, we keep hearing proposals for more big developments, ones the average American never could afford to buy into. Many in the West are located in or near scenic mountainous areas where they take a toll on wildlife and require a huge new infrastructure (such as this dam).

If the American economy is to ever prosper again, there needs to be much less investment in housing for the relatively well off and much more in science, technology, environmental protection and remediation, efficient health care, education and reeducation, new energy sources and especially efficient use of energy, etc.

This dam is an illustration of the wrong mentality, and it shows the striking decline in this country is not the work of the Republican Administration in Washington alone.

Related story. Fen-ced in: Protected peat bog blocks growth plan for Grand Valley, Colorado. Grand Junction Sentinel.

– – – –

*Ironically, despite the huge number of new homes, few are within the reach of the lower middle class and those with fewer means.

B.C. government shifts away from development of Flathead Valley

Well maybe . . . the article is more of a hope than report of the facts.

Victoria shifts away from development of Flathead Valley. But permanent protection still needed for rare treasure. Kathryn Molloy, Vancouver Sun

Bordering on Catastrophe (more on plans to industrialize the area near Glacier NP)

British Petroleum has withdrawn their plans for massive industrialization of the area across the border, but adjacent to Glacier National Park, but B.P. other companies and the British Columbia government have lots of other awful plans for this general area.

Bordering on Catastrophe. Montana’s opposition helped kill a Canadian mining plan last week. But has the real war just begun? By Gordon Sullivan. Missoula Independent.

Link to the North Fork Landowners Association. Much more information on the fight over the Canadian Flathead River area.

British Petroleum’s plans for thousands of coal bed methane wells near Glacier NP are dropped

This is great news! BP drops Flathead coal-bed plan. By Michael Jamison. Missoulian.

I recently did a story on the grave threat of these wells to the water, air and land in British Columbia just NW of Glacier National Park.

The plans for the huge mountaintop coal mine (the Cline Mine) remain, however.

Here is the most extensive article. BP Drops Coal-Bed Methane Exploration Project North of Glacier Park. Flathead Beacon. By Dan Testa.

Governor Brian Schweitzer says Montana can’t be allowed to Become Another Wyoming

Oil & Gas Symposium: Montana Cannot Become Another Wyoming. By Hal Herring. New West.

Park Service: Ely, Nevada coal-fired power plant plan ‘unacceptable’

The National Park Service has come out against the giant coal-fired electrical generating plant planned for north of Ely, Nevada. Now it and majority leader Harry Reid are in opposition as well as it appear local residents.

Park Service: Ely, Nevada coal-fired power plant plan ‘unacceptable‘. Elko Daily Free Press.

Kempthorne’s New Interior? Mountaintop removal mining and expanded stream dumping

Western Watersheds Blog has located the news the Secretary Dirk Kempthone and his “new honest” Department of Interior has just approved regulations that make the stip mining in Appalachia even worse.

50 Dirtiest U.S. Power Plants Named

While coal-fired power plants are notoriusly dirity, some are a lot worse than others. They are usually the older plants.

One that has long galled me is the old, but big, 4-corners power plant near the Four Corners area of Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado. It spews its pall over the scenic canyonlands country and the Grand Canyon, and as the article indicates, is a prime example of environmental racism because it was imposed on an area with a lot of poor Native Americans (along with still other coal plants, strip mines, and leaky natural gas wells).

Story. 50 Dirtiest Power Plants. ENS

post 1384

Majority leader Senator Harry Reid, now opposes Nevada coal plants!

“U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday that he’ll do everything I can to stop construction of three major coal-fired power plants in his home state of Nevada and will push for more alternative energy development.”

Reid had seemed to be neutral to leaning toward the coal plants. They are being proposed not because Nevada has a lot or coal or water, it has neither,  but it has a lot of clean air. Power companies apparently think this clean air is being wasted.

This is welcome news in the fight against global warming, curbing the mercury pollution that Nevada sends to neighboring states (from open pit gold mines), and keeping Nevada’s wide open spaces places where you can see for miles and miles.

Story By Brendan Riley. Reid Opposes Coal-Fired Plants in Nevada. AP

Panel backs limits on coalbed methane water use

I thought this story interesting: The Powder River Basin has a whole lot of water pumping as a result of coalbed methane production – enough to “perennialize these (ephemeral) streams.”

Panel backs limits on coalbed methane water use.  AP

post 1349

Senate rejects coal-to-liquid fuel amendment

Most conservationists are celebrating the defeat of two amendments to the new energy bill that would have authorized $200 million in grants or $10 billion in direct loans for coal gasification/liquefaction projects.

Coal state senators are pushing this as a “clean” method of using the vast coal deposits, many believe use of coal, is not the solution to energy woes due to the high emission rate of of carbon dioxide when coal is used. Proponents of coal liquefaction in Montana and elsewhere have been saying the CO2 can be captured and injected into deep wells, where it will remain. Other doubt this, saying the carbon dioxide will leak out.

Coal mining also has severe environmental impacts, although federal law requires the reclamation of coal surface mines.

Story in the Casper Star Tribune. Senate rejects coal-liquids plans. By Noelle Straub.

Story in the Charleston Gazette. Senate rejects liquefied coal. Backers split over proposals; environmentalists hail votes. By Ken Ward Jr. Staff writer.

Here is a news release the Sierra Club just put out:

Senate Says Firm No to Liquid Coal. Vote Puts the Public Interest Ahead of Special Interests.

Statement of Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director

“In spite of Herculean efforts by the coal industry and its friends in Congress, the Senate today delivered a very important victory in the fight against global warming by decisively voting against jumpstarting a new massively expensive, massively polluting liquid coal industry–twice.

Senators showed that they understood that we need to leave behind the failed policies of the past–and past Congresses.

“At a time when we need to get on the path to achieving an 80 percent reduction in our global warming emissions by 2050–an achievable annual reduction of 2 percent–the level scientists tell us is necessary to avoid the most catastrophic effects of global warming, business as usual is no longer acceptable. Liquid coal produces nearly twice the global warming pollution as conventional fuel and Senators were right to turn their backs on it.

“Though Senators successfully blocked these damaging liquid coal provisions, they now need to turn their attention to breaking a filibuster led by Senator Domenici that is preventing a fair up or down vote on the Bingaman Renewable Electricity Standard amendment. Senators must also block attempts by Senators Levin, Bond, and Pryor to further weaken the CAFE compromise in the bill.

“We thank Senators for their leadership on this important vote and hope they will continue to make the changes necessary to make this bill one that we can truly be proud of.

US Senator Thomas’ death hurts Wyo. Range efforts

Thomas had been expected to soon introduce legislation protecting the Wyoming Range from oil and gas leasing. Now he is dead. Story in the Jackson Hole News and Guide by Cory Hatch.

As if to underscore the importance of not granting these leases unless you are willing to see complete field development, the Fish and Game Commission is seeking a buyback or a give back by the oil companies.

The article says the leading sportsmen groups in the state are behind saving the the Wyoming Range from an awful fate, but I didn’t see the name of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, WY. Are they on board, or do they want to established feedlots between the gas rigs?  I will remove my sarcasm if they are signed onto the move to keep the gas wells off these splendid mountains.

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Huge B.C. coal mine that would drain into Montana gets attention from Condoleeza Rice

Here is the latest on the proposed Cline Mine, just north of the B.C. border. Montana’s senator Baucus got Secretary of State Rice to urge Canada’s federal government to ask for a more detailed environmental assessment than B.C. requires. However, the government in Ottawa has not taken any action yet.

The article below in the Flathead Beacon shows the immense coal reserves that could drain down into Montana, perhaps ruining the North Fork and main fork of the Flathead River, Flathead Lake and beyond into Idaho and the state of Washington.

The potentially affected part of British Columbia and Montana are very important wildlife habitat are portions very scenic. The North Fork of the Flathead is the western boundary of Glacier National Park.

Cline Mine: What’s Next? Flathead Beacon.

It’s a lot of crap that B.C. protects their environment better than Montana, despite Montana’s many lapses. The Liberal Party government in Victoria, B.C. is  corporate dominated and very hostile to the protection of land, water and wildlife. Note: outside the United States, the word “liberal” often means what would be called “economic conservative” in American political usage.

Rural Electrification Administration is an old, New Deal program that has become little more than program for polluters

The REA was created during the New Deal to bring electricity, light and hope to poor rural areas that private utilities did not find it worthwhile to electrify.

Many years later the agency is still around and uses your taxpayer money to subsidize the construction of polluting coal-fired power plants to areas that are now neither poor nor rural.

The REA should be abolished.

Story. U.S. loaning billions for carbon-spewing plants. By Steven Mufson.The Washington Post

Small-town Utahns fight proposed large coal-fired power plant

If all goes according to plan, Utah will expand electrical production in the next several years by more than 2,000 megawatts. Almost all of it will come from coal-burning power plants, according to the DAQ. Three of the state’s largest plants are slated to expand: Hunter in Emery County, Bonanza in Uintah and IPP in Millard County will add 1,720 megawatts to the state’s electrical production. Sevier County’s is the only new plant planned. If these expansions are realized, more than 10,000 tons of sulfur dioxide will enter the air yearly and the state’s carbon footprint will increase by thousands of tons, according to the DAQ.This spate of coal-plant proposals is part of national trend, says Ananth Chikkatur, a research fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. In the Rockies alone, more than 12 new coal plants are proposed. Energy companies want to get in under the wire before the George W. Bush Administration’s free-wheeling regulatory atmosphere disappears, said Chikkatur. From Killer Coal: proposed power plant in Sevier County threatens a local lifestyle and the air all of us breathe. By Jonah Owen Lamb. Salt Lake City Weekly

This is really a story about all of the rural West, not just Sevier County, whose clear skies have been targeted as wonderful places to add legal amounts of pollution from new coal-fired power plants to generate electricity for far away places.

Coal plants spew out not just sulfur, nitrogen oxides, and small particles (particulates, they also are the source of mercury pollution and they often emit more radioactivity than nuclear power plants (due to uranium ore traces in the coal that is burned). Already many stream in Utah have mercury in the trout that is above the safety limits.

Red Alert on Energy Leases in Montana

We’ve already seen it in Wyoming. The state is going to be pretty much destroyed and now the energy companies are beating a path to Montana.

Bill Schneider sounds the warning from Helena. Red Alert in New West.

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Environmental review may halt giant coal pit mine near Glacier NP for 3 years

There is good news on the front to prevent the Cline Mine from being developed.

There will be a lengthy environmental review of the proposed British Columbia mine done by Canada’s federal government rather than the Province.

Story in the Billings Gazette. AP

Because the mine’s polluted waters will drain into the North Fork of the Flathead River, Montana is fearful of the impacts on fish and wildlife in one of the richest such places in the state.

Groups say coal plant near Gillett, Wyoming, needn’t be so polluting

We hear about the wonders of  “clean coal” technology all the time, but we hear about the actual deployment of dirty coal technology in the everyday world.

We live in the everyday world.

Story in the Billings Gazette. By Matthew Brown. AP

Montana asks Ottawa to review B.C. coal mine. Coal pit endangers river, MT governor warns

Montana officials, were given the bum’s rush in with complaints to the B.C. government about the forthcoming Cline open pit coal mine near Glacier National park inside British Columbia. Governor Schweitzer has taken the matter to the national level in Canada.

Schweitzer is requesting a review under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act saying he has failed to get agreements from B.C. to adequately protect the Flathead River. Montana asks Ottawa to review B.C. coal mine. Coal pit endangers river, MT governor warns Story in the Globe and Mail.

What a coal pit mine looks like (1984 photo) in the Canadian Rockies not far from this proposal (about 20 miles north at Sparwood).

My editorial comment is that if President Bush had the smallest amount of respect in other countries, appeals like this would be given more weight. Meanwhile B.C. and Canadian mining companies are trashing America.

Conservationists issue Western energy agenda

Conservationists issue Western energy agenda. By Judith Kohler. Associated Press writer.

We know the agenda for the West from the Republicans — fossil fuel development forever, but the Western governors, especially the Democrats have had a lot to say lately about a new kind of energy development, and it could be pretty unfriendly to the land and landscape to the West too unless adjustments are made.

It is time conservationists spoke out beyond simply opposing various projects.

Related. Gov Fruedenthal calls for tighter wildlife protection. By Whitey Royster. Casper Star-Tribune environmental reporter.

As gas development in the Green River Basin of  Wyoming has expanded beyond all projects, even Governor Freudenthal is seeking some restraint and modifications

Proposal for a giant coal-fired plant near Ely, Nevada draws protest

A giant coal-fired power plant is planned at Ely, Nevada (there is no coal in the area only clear air).

Story in the Las Vegas Sun. Coal-fired plant near Ely draws protest. By Phoebe Sweet.

Here is a story from the Billings Gazette in Montana about where the coal will come from. Wyoming coal planned for Nevada power plant. By The Associated Press

“KT” who posts to this blog was one of the first to sniff this out.