Despite controversy, BP coalbed methane project is a go
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Submitted by pierre on Thu, 21/02/2008 - 10:42pm.
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Posts: 90
Joined: 15-06-2007 |
This story appears in The Flathead Beacon, Feb 21st 2008. BP Drops Flathead Coal-Bed Methane Exploration Project Officials and Conservation Groups Warn That Threats Remain With the peaks of Glacier National Park visible through the window, U.S. Sen. Max Baucus told a crowd at Flathead Valley Community College Thursday that British Petroleum is dropping its plans for coal-bed methane exploration in the headwaters of the North Fork of the Flathead River in British Columbia. Baucus said he received a phone call earlier in the day from Robert Malone, chairman and president of BP America, informing him that the company was backing off. “I think it’s basically because we all worked very hard to prevent that from happening,” Baucus said. “I take this very personally.” The Democratic senator, now running for a sixth term, made the announcement at a town hall-style meeting, and was joined by Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont. Also present were several scientists and conservation group leaders who have been campaigning against the proposed energy development in the region north of Glacier Park since BP first announced its plans in May of last year. Baucus said he and Tester have had several meetings with BP executives in which they bluntly stated their opposition to the project. “I made it clear,” Baucus said. “Ain’t no way that this is going to happen, period.” Thursday’s meeting was intended as an information session about the hazards of the gas exploration proposal, but with news of BP’s decision it became an impromptu victory party. Baucus and others present, however, cautioned that several energy exploration projects in southeastern B.C. remain threats to water quality and wildlife south of the border. “It’s solid and you can be proud of it,” Tester told the crowd. “But we still have more work to do.” While BP is dropping plans to drill for coal-bed methane in areas where pollutants could flow into the North Fork, that section only makes up about one quarter of the land area included in its “Mist Mountain” project seeking gas in the Crowsnest coalfield. It still intends to move forward with plans for test wells in the upper reaches of the Elk River Valley, near the B.C. towns of Fernie and Sparwood. And the Cline Mining Corporation continues its application to do mountaintop-removal coal mining nearby, which critics say could dump pollutants into Foisey Creek, a tributary of the North Fork. The Cline mine is currently undergoing the Canadian Federal Environmental Assessment process, and taking public comment on the scope of the potential project. As long as significant coal and gas reserves remain in southeastern B.C., it seems likely companies will seek to develop that energy. Casey Brennan, Southern Rockies Program Manager for Wildsight, a Canadian conservation group, said he and several other groups had planned to draft a letter questioning B.C.’s environmental regulatory process to Greg Reimer, deputy minister of energy, mines and petroleum resources. That letter will require some changes in light of BP’s decision, Brennan said, but doesn’t change the letter’s original intent, which charges that it is unclear how the B.C. government goes about determining the adverse environmental effects of development proposals. Critics of gas and coal exploration proposals north of Glacier Park – from elected officials to wildlife biologists – have long charged that the area is simply too pristine to mitigate any of the environmental damage that may occur from energy development. In the case of coal mining, that could mean high levels of nitrates, phosphorus and the toxic metal selenium leaking into waterways. In the case of coal-bed methane, the wastewater extracted along with the gas is high in salt, and can also harm water quality. The habitat of large mammals including grizzly bears, and the many bulltrout spawning areas in small streams north of the Flathead Valley, could also suffer. “I will do everything I honestly, possibly can to prevent that from happening – this is non-negotiable,” Baucus said. “We’re never out of the woods.” |
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Joined: 15-06-2007
Despite Controversy, BP Coalbed Methane Project is a Go
Montana senator claims planned coal bed methane operation in southeast British Columbia threatens rivers running into U.S.
Published in The Globe and Mail
February 26, 2008
BP Canada Energy Co. of Calgary is proceeding with its controversial $3-billion Mist Mountain coal bed methane project in southeastern B.C., despite U.S. reports that the project had been "scuttled."
However, a small piece of the project in the North Fork of the Flathead River drainage basin will not proceed, B.C. Energy Minister Richard Neufeld said.
The Mist Mountain project, announced nearly a year ago, is an ambitious five-year plan to explore and develop coal bed methane in the 500-square-kilometre Crowsnest coal field, near the Crowsnest Pass towns of Fernie and Sparwood in the southeast of the province. Plans called for annual exploration expenditures of up to $3-million.
Should the project prove economically and environmentally feasible, BP Canada estimates it would contribute more than $2-billion in gas royalties, $2-billion in corporate taxes and provide permanent jobs for about 250 people over the life of the project. BP has already conducted open houses in Fernie and Sparwood, and has begun to make a preliminary environmental assessment in the region.
Confusion over the status of the project - widely opposed in Montana because of concerns about pollution entering the Flathead and the Elk Rivers, which flow south from B.C. into Montana - stemmed from comments by U.S. Senator Max Baucus about the decision. Mr. Baucus said he had been told in a phone conversation with BP America president and chief executive officer Bob Malone that the company was backing away from the project.
Mr. Malone and BP Canada president Randy McLeod declined to comment on the issue.
When asked last week about Mr. Baucus's characterization of the project, Mr. Neufeld said: "If Max Baucus says the sun is shining, the first thing you do is go out and have a look." Mr. Baucus has been a thorn in the side of Canada's lumber industry for some 30 years, and there has been little love lost between him and several B.C. politicians.
Mr. Neufeld said that earlier in the week, the provincial government had instituted a 60-day referral process as a lead-up to BP Canada's application for tenure rights to pursue the Mist Mountain project. The referral process sends notification to stakeholders of BP Canada's request for tenure, which is the first step in securing the rights to drill and explore.
"In that referral, BP Canada is asking just for the Crowsnest coal field [region] minus the Flathead portion," Mr. Neufeld said. "They may still want to do a couple or three years of environmental work and some of that may touch in the Flathead, I'm not sure."
Asked if the Flathead area has been permanently removed from consideration for coal bed methane or other industrial development, Mr. Neufeld said: "I can't guess what's going to happen and I won't speculate, especially on something as volatile as the Flathead." The river flows into the Unites States along the western border of Montana's Glacier National Park - a pristine wilderness area.
Asked whether or not the Flathead deferral was a government or a BP Canada initiative, Mr. Neufeld described it as "a collective idea."
BP Canada spokeswoman Anita Perry indicated that the decision was in fact the provincial government's but added that the company has no concerns with the decision.
"We are pleased that the referral process has started, and we support the approach the B.C. government is taking," she said. "At this time the government is excluding the Flathead from this process, but BP remains interested in the project and will continue to do environmental studies in the area."
BP Canada's coal bed methane project, together with a proposal from Cline Mining Corp. of Sudbury to develop a coal mine near the Flathead River, have drawn strong opposition from environmentalists in both countries, and from high-level politicians in the United States, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Senators Baucus and Jon Tester, and Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer.
Mr. Schweitzer and B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell last fall exchanged toughly worded letters over the issue, and according to a spokesman in the Premier's office, there has been no contact between the two leaders since. Calls to Mr. Schweitzer's office were not returned.