The Flathead River rises out of a political oblivion that poses perhaps the greatest threat ever to the clean waters, fisheries and wildlife of the North Fork and Flathead Lake.

Montanans are almost universally clueless about the Canadian political context of Fording Coal's recently announced plans to develop coal leases in the headwaters of the Flathead River. In this case, ignorance is not blissful. In fact, if water quality in Flathead Lake is to be protected, Americans may want to get savvy about British Columbia politics real fast.

According to knowledgeable BC and Montana observers, it's not too early for Montanans to raise the alarm and begin fighting these proposed developments. For Montanans concerned about water quality and wildlife, BC's current political situation is not hopeful.

"If that mine is built, the uniqueness of the North Fork will be lost forever," said Rich Moy, chief of the water management bureau of the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. "Politically, this is a bigger threat than Cabin Creek."

Cabin Creek was another open-pit coal mine slated for the Flathead six miles north of the border a decade ago [map]. Montanans of all stripes and political persuasions rallied to fight that mine. It was submitted to the International Joint Commission (IJC), which mediates boundary water disputes. IJC ruled against the mine. The political furor, plus ailing coal markets, prompted the Canadian company to shelve its plans.

The North Fork arguably is the most ecologically critical drainage in the Lower 48. The west half of Glacier National Park drains into the North Fork. Grizzly bears, wolverines, wolves and elk roam freely across the broad valley bottoms into the wild Whitefish Range. The North Fork, which flows through 40 miles of British Columbia, provides the single most important carnivore movement corridor between the Canadian and U.S. Rockies. It's pure waters provides a buffer against increasing downstream pollution into Flathead Lake.

The political dimensions of BC coal mining in the Flathead are ominous for several reasons. In the 1980s, Sage Creek Coal was a virtual unknown in British Columbia when it proposed to develop Cabin Creek coal reserves. In contrast, Fording Coal is an industrial and political powerhouse in the province.

In early October, before Fording's Flathead announcement, I got a sense of Fording's political clout while reading a local newspaper in a Fernie cafe. Fernie is the largest town in the Elk Valley, the Canadian drainage immediately north of the Flathead. Fording has major coal operations in the Elk Valley. This fall, I read, British Columbia Premier Glen Clark paid a rare visit to the Elk Valley. To the dismay of many locals, Clark didn't hold a public meeting. Instead, he went straight to the local Fording operation. And then he went home.

Glen Clark won narrow reelection last year as the head of the leftist New Democratic Party (NDP), which benefited from a divided opposition. The NDP candidate in the conservative Elk Valley won election on the voting strength of coal miners, who feared the anti-labor policies of the opposition more than they feared the pro-environment rhetoric of NDP. The coal miners have had an antagonistic relationship with Fording, which is generally feared as a ruthless operator in the Elk Valley. NDP was seen as a bulwark against Fording's excesses.

It was a sensible decision by the miners. Glen Clark, like his father, is a former union organizer. Environmental protection comes in a distant second to job creation. As premier, he's a bombastic populist whose popularity soared this summer when he bashed the United States during an international dispute over salmon. Clark prefers frontal assaults and belligerence over the diplomatic tact and consensus-building approach preferred by many Canadian politicians.

Clark's style became evident a couple years ago when British Columbia was wrapping up a multi-year land-use planning effort known as the CORE process, which was based upon community roundtables. Clark's NDP predecessor, Michael Harcourt, had initiated the CORE process as a true believer in community-based conflict resolution. Clark appears to have had little fondness for such niceties.

Bob Jamieson, a rancher and retired outfitter near Kimberley, was the coordinator for the CORE process in the East Kootenay, a region that includes the Canadian Flathead. Jamieson doesn't hide his frustration about the outcome of the process after years of long meetings. The roundtable's recommendations were sent to Victoria, BC's capital city, where they encountered the power politics that were more to the liking of newly appointed Premier Clark.

One CORE participant in the East Kootenay, who asked not to be identified, put it simply: "Coal won big time" when the roundtable recommendations were subjected to the political pressure cooker in Victoria.

In the Flathead, Jamieson says, local participants reached a compromise of sorts. Coal development would be allowed in the upland areas in exchange for strong protections in the valley bottoms. In Victoria, however, many of the Flathead environmental measures were stripped.

"The trade-off didn't happen," Jamieson says. "It's fair to say that environmental and wildlife interests feel their end of the bargain wasn't held up."

For all the shortcomings of the CORE process, John Bergenske of the East Kootenay Environmental Society said he came away with a good education about the coal industry, particularly Fording. "Fording doesn't feel like they need to get along with anybody. They managed to get their way by being totally belligerent. I certainly learned a lot from them about not negotiating."

Bergenske said Fording will try to assuage American concerns by downplaying their development plans and offering to keep open the lines of communication. Don't buy it, Bergenske says. "I guarantee that going to a lot of meetings with Fording won't get you anywhere."

The East Kootenai Environmental Society has identified major water quality problems from coal operations in the Elk Valley, including elevated nitrogen which causes algae blooms, selenium pollution and sedimentation.

Premier Clark currently is under fire for BC's sluggish economy and the highest unemployment rate in Canada. Given his close ties to Fording ad his disappointing environmental record in the southeast corner of the province, it seems unlikely that Clark will be bothered by American entreaties originating from the blip on his huge border that is Montana.

Montanans, starting with the Flathead Basin Commission, Gov. Racicot and the congressional delegation, should raise the hue and cry and begin the process of referring Flathead coal mining to the IJC. If development can be delayed, rising concerns about global warming (coal is a major source of greenhouse gases) and shrinking coal markets may combine to kill the proposed mine.

As one disillusioned participant in BC's land use planning process advised, "Fight like hell. But fight smart."

Steve Thompson of Whitefish is a free-lance writer and a columnist for the Missoula Independent. This article appeared in the Hungry Horse News (Columbia Falls, Montana) on 11 December 1997, and is an expanded version of an article that first appeared in the Missoula Independent.