Guest editorials

Coal mine offers chance for real solutions

Some British Columbians want to convince the rest of their countrymen that the U.S. wants to trample their nation’s sovereignty. At least that’s what a news columnist stated recently about Montana and U.S. strong objections to the Cline coal mine proposed for the Canadian headwaters of the Flathead River.

Actually, Montanans and British Columbians see the threat of a coal mine in the Flathead as an opportunity to work together to finally resolve a 30-year problem, namely whether or not to industrialize the North Fork of the Flathead - a place dear to the hearts and lives of both British Columbians and Montanans.

We believe that British Columbians and Montanans largely agree that our clean water, our world-class wildlife and recreation should be maintained for current and future generations. To protect these values, the Flathead should be kept as it is - wild and undeveloped.

From the BC citizen point of view, the Flathead provides unparalleled opportunities to hunt, fish, hike and generally get away from it all. We see the Flathead as the source area for grizzlies, black bears, moose, elk, sheep and mountain goats. It provides the majority of spawning habitat for the international population of bull and cutthroat trout.

Any coal mine in the Flathead - and the Cline mine in particular - would lead immediately to a significant loss of bull trout, and the rapid loss of other fish and aquatic species.

One example: Michel Creek that flows out of the Coal Mountain Coal Mine has 57-times the background level of the toxic heavy metal Selenium, and 650 times the background levels of the polluting nutrient nitrate. The Campbell government apparently tolerates this level of pollution from a ‘regulated’ mine.

From the Montana point of view, we see that both countries will bear the costs of industrializing the Flathead. BC would lose its last southern undeveloped valley, and see direct impacts to the wildlife and wildness of Waterton Lakes National Park. Montana would receive highly elevated levels of pollutants, less fish, less wildlife, and irreparable damage to the U.S Glacier National Park and Flathead Lake - important drivers to our economy and priceless assets for our way of life.

South of the border, the Flathead has received the highest forms of legislated protection. It forms the western boundary of Glacier Park. Congress protected the river with Wild and Scenic River designation. Millions have been spent to curb nutrients entering the river system in the U.S. Millions have been spent studying and understanding this internationally significant watershed.

What the issue comes down to is that some areas are too special to develop. The Flathead is one of those special areas. We believe the Flathead needs a special plan.

The governments of British Columbia and Montana need to cooperate and work together to develop a mutually beneficial pact for the Flathead. We need to recognize the threat posed by the proposed Cline mine as an opportunity to reach a long-term agreement on basin-wide management.

Any agreement must acknowledge Canadian sovereignty over its soil as well as American sovereignty over its downstream resources and its public investment in conservation.

If there’s an outside imperial influence - as Mr. Warner’s opinion piece suggests - it’s Cline Mining Company’s international investors who wish to waltz into our Flathead, extract profit, and leave BC and Montana with an environmental and costly mess.

Fortunately, our two sovereign nations have signed an international treaty. The 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty establishes a formal system to resolve and prevent disputes in international watersheds. It may become necessary to resort to this treaty. But we - as British Columbians and Montanans - hope to avoid that escalation.

We feel that Victoria leadership continues to miss a critical opportunity to resolve this issue at the provincial and state level. So long as Victoria condones mining in the Flathead, such ventures will be proposed by international mining companies. And vigorously opposed by local citizens.

Victoria has neither acknowledged the priceless cultural and environmental value of Waterton - Glacier Peace Parks nor the enormous contribution made to that value by the Flathead Basin. British Columbians value that legacy more than another polluting coalmine.

Montanans and British Columbians can resolve this issue. Montanans will not dictate to British Columbia, yet it will work with her citizens to implement a mutually beneficial solution.

Victoria must assert the greater interests of British Columbia over those of one international coal mining company. Victoria must deny permits to Cline and develop a new plan for the Flathead… One that excludes mining and protects the transboundary legacies of water, wildlife and the Peace Parks.

Dave Hadden, President

Flathead Coalition

Bigfork, MT

Ted Ralfe

Fernie Citizens Concerned About Coal Bed Methane

Fernie, BC

Formed in 1975 to protect the transboundary Flathead Basin from inappropriate industrial development, the Flathead Coalition members include both British Columbia and Montana citizens, businesses and conservation organizations. For more information go to: www.flatheadcoalition.org/

Global warming

and free speech

By James M. Taylor

In a chilling assault on free speech and academic freedom, Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski (D) has informed KGW-TV in Portland that he is seeking to remove a prominent skeptic of manmade global warming from the position of state climatologist.

The state legislature created the state climatologist position in 1991 as part of a state climate office at Oregon State University. George Taylor, an expert climatologist, has held the position since it was created.

To date, the state climatologist has not been a politically appointed position. The state climate office is responsible for providing up-to-date information to Oregon residents regarding the state’s weather. Taylor is unquestionably an accomplished climatologist who is well qualified to run the office. He has published articles and books on weather and climatology, including The Oregon Weather Book, and is a frequent speaker at American Meteorological Society events.

In addition to being the foremost expert on Oregon climate, Taylor is one of many climate experts with deep reservations about alarmist predictions of catastrophic global warming. Taylor believes natural climate variations played a significant role in the end of the Little Ice Age just over 100 years ago, and that they are a contributing factor to recent warming.

Taylor is certainly not alone in his reservations. Many other scientists agree, including Virginia State Climatologist Patrick Michaels, who is a past president of the American Association of State Climatologists. The nation’s leading hurricane expert, William Gray, has publicly refuted the assertion that global warming is causing more frequent and severe hurricanes. And Frederick Seitz, a past president of the National Academy of Sciences, has authored a comprehensive rebuttal to global warming alarmism that has been signed by more than 17,000 scientists.

A 2003 international survey of more than 500 climate scientists, conducted by German climatologist Dennis Bray, found only 56 percent think climate change is mostly the result of human causes. And a November 2006 survey conducted by the National Registry of Environmental Professionals found that 41 percent of environmental scientists and professionals disagree that recent warming temperatures “can be, in large part, attributed to human activity.”

Still more support for climate realists such as Taylor is found in the just-released Summary for Policymakers of the Fourth Assessment of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The latest scientific research finds previous estimates of future global warming were overstated, the ice caps on Antarctica and Greenland are not melting, and sea levels are expected to rise only 1 foot over the next century. North America is expecting more, rather than less, precipitation under projected global warming conditions.

It reflects poorly on Gov. Kulongoski that he would try to stifle legitimate scientific debate by attempting to fire a scientist who is performing his job so admirably. The vast majority of Taylor’s work involves compiling and presenting objective climate and weather data regarding the state of Oregon, and there can be little dispute that Taylor excels at this job.

Removing Taylor from his position solely because he disagrees with the governor’s alarmist position on global warming only serves to punish state citizens who have come to rely on Taylor’s wealth of knowledge and diligent job performance regarding state weather.

James M. Taylor (taylor@heartland.org) is senior fellow for environment policy at The Heartland Institute.