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Cross-border CBM feud builds Montana governor warns B.C. premier she may ask Canadian government to intervene; Neufeld suggests dispute tied to gubernatorial election Gary Park Petroleum News Calgary Correspondent
The cross-border tensions between British Columbia and Montana over coalbed methane development are moving to the highest levels, with Montana Gov. Judy Martz on the verge of asking the Canadian government to intervene.
Trouble started brewing last year when British Columbia put up for auction the drilling rights on two large chunks of land in the province’s southeast corner between Fernie and the Montana border. The successful bidders will be unveiled Aug. 25.
Because of the volume of water that is pumped in association with coalbed methane production, Montana fears the waste water would eventually flow into the Flathead River Basin alongside the western boundary of Glacier National Park.
The northern Flathead is designated a “wild and scenic river” that supports the largest population of grizzly bears in North America, outside of coastal regions.
Because of the tight timeframe to evaluate potential impacts of coalbed methane development, Martz said in a letter to B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell that she is “exploring the possibility of asking the Canadian government to conduct an environmental assessment ... prior to the sale of these leases.”
B. C. Energy and Mines Minister Richard Neufeld, observing that Montana has 350 producing coalbed methane wells, said his province has only a handful of wells that he characterized as experimental.
He suggested Martz is more concerned about the looming gubernatorial election than environmental concerns. B.C. delegation blindsided Neufeld said a delegation of B.C. coalbed methane regulators recently met with Montana officials “so they would be comfortable with how we were handling” the project.
Instead of a low-level information meeting, the delegation was confronted with a packed meeting.
“I think our folks got blindsided a bit because Montana let everyone in the country know who was coming,” Neufeld said.
Steve Thompson, glacier program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association and a director of the Flathead Coalition, formed in the 1970s to challenge a coal mine on the B.C. side of the border, told the Vancouver Sun that before coalbed methane licenses are sold “we want a consultative process to look at all the potential impacts – air, water, wildlife and also some socioeconomic impacts.”
He said British Columbia lacks data about water quality and flows in many of the feeder streams that would carry water from coalbed methane production.
But Neufeld countered that B.C. regulations are as stringent as Montana’s, limiting the volume of water that can be discharged so it won’t threaten fish habitat. Side-effects couldn’t happen in Canada Pierre Alvarez, president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said that some of the negative side-effects of coalbed methane development in the United States could not happen in Canada “because of the regulatory environment here.”
He said Canadian regulators have a better understanding of coalbed methane impacts based on what has happened over 15 years in the United States.
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