B.C. turns down methane plan in Flathead area

BP's Pullout from Flathead Sets Precedent for CBM Extraction
Wildsight
Feb 22, 2008

`We're Not Out of the Woods Yet,' says Wildsight

The provincial government's declaration that the Flathead Valley is off-limits for coalbed methane (CBM) extraction is a huge step in the right direction but there's still a long way to go.

“We are extremely pleased the government has formally expressed the environmental importance of the Flathead,” Wildsight's Flathead Program Manager Casey Brennan. “But we're not out of the woods yet.”

Yesterday's announcement forcing oil and gas giant BP's withdrawal from CBM extraction in the Flathead sets an environmental precedent - one that may apply to BP's pending extraction proposal in the Elk Valley, which would give BP drilling rights of roughly 400 sq. km within less than two months.

“We are also extremely pleased the government has deemed CBM extraction as a huge health and environmental risk,” says Brennan. “This precedent now applies across the board. There's no difference between CBM extraction in the Flathead and in the Elk Valley”

Wildsight states that while this announcement is admirable, the goal remains on finding long-term solutions.

“This announcement is the product of clear thinking on the part of our government, as well as the government across the border in Montana,” says Brennan. “Let's see this realistic reasoning carry forward, so all of us can enjoy a healthy future.”

Wildsight's campaign helped to demonstrate that people can have a voice in the future of their communities. A lot of letters have been sent out from local concerned citizens to decision makers and Wildsight will continue to lead an information and action campaign on this issue.

B.C. turns down methane plan in Flathead area

An environmentally-sensitive area in southeastern British Columbia will not be mined for methane gas.

The B.C. government has decided that British Petroleum Plc. will not be permitted to extract coal-bed methane — a type of natural gas — from the Canadian side of the Flathead River Basin.

BP had wanted to extract coal-bed methane from an area covering 500 square kilometres in the Flathead area of the East Kootenays.

But a BP spokeswoman said the possibility of the development in the Canadian Flathead has been withdrawn from the provincial evaluation process of a much larger area where BP remains interested in exploring for coal-bed methane.

"The province recognizes the sensitivity of the Flathead Valley and so we are not including this area," said Graham Currie, spokesman for the B.C. Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources.

The decision has pleased environmentalists who wanted to stop the project due to concerns about possible air and water pollution as well as damage to wildlife.

"The exclusion of the Flathead from this tenure [application] sets a precedent for British Columbia that signals the government of our province recognizes that there are areas that are not appropriate for this kind of industrial extraction activity,'' said Casey Brennan, who is with the environmental group, Wildsight.

Wildsight is an organization that works to maintain biodiversity and healthy human communities in Canada's Columbia and Rocky Mountains eco-region.