To the chagrin of Montana environmentalists and politicians, British Petroleum will soon be conducting studies in British Columbia's share of the Flathead River Basin to see if it can produce enough coalbed methane to make it worth the company's while.

In mid-August, the B.C. Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources gave the nod to BP's request to proceed with a three- to five-year environmental appraisal of coalbed methane resources in the Crowsnest Coalfield. The appraisal stage of what BP calls the "Mist Mountain Coalbed Gas Project" will entail fish habitat, seismology and aeromagnetic survey studies.

But Montana politicians and environmentalists say B.C.'s third of the basin is no place for resource extraction of any kind because it is the headwater of the Flathead River, which carries the U.S. government designation of a National Wild and Scenic River, and is upstream from Glacier National Park, a World Heritage Site.

Coalbed methane drilling, they say, would foul the river's waters and pose grave risks to threatened and endangered species such as grizzlies, lynx, and wolverines, as well as to the bull and cutthroat trout that swim up the North Fork of the Flathead to spawn.

"It would be pretty tough to mitigate the impacts of fossil fuel development in a place that's so special on the whole continent," said Mike Volesky, natural resources adviser to Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer.

Volesky told Energy Prospects West that Gov. Schweitzer and other state officials have asked the B.C. government to forgo resource development in the region and to consider more ecologically sound economic development, such as tourism.

"We'd like to figure out a solution that's a win-win for everybody. If not, let's have some serious analyses of cumulative effects to establish at least a baseline, so if something goes awry, we'll know at least what we have and we can mitigate impacts," Volesky said.

Volesky added that BP's proposal is only one of several resource extraction proposals for the region being considered by the B.C. government. To address Montana's concerns, Volesky and others on Schweitzer's staff are planning a Canada-U.S. symposium for early winter.

Both U.S. senators from Montana have asked the B.C. government to reconsider resource development in the region. In early August, freshman Sen. John Tester sent a letter opposing the project to Andy Inglis, BP's chief executive of energy and exploration.

In the letter, Tester wrote, "as a Montana Senator, it is my belief that your company's proposal represents an unacceptable level of risk to Montana water quality, native trout populations, and the ecological integrity of Glacier National Park.

"There is no proven methodology for the re-injection of toxic discharge water into this type of geological formation; the required network of roads will increase siltation and result in the impairment of native trout spawning habitat; and recent wildlife data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services provides decisive evidence of serious, adverse impacts to wildlife habitat in existing coalbed methane fields located within sensitive ecosystems in the Rocky Mountain West."

Sen. Max Baucus has also asked BP to halt its plans.

"Montanans enjoy sharing our legacy of hunting and fishing with our children and work hard to preserve our rivers, lakes, forests and rangelands for future generations. It is for these reasons that I will continue objecting to inappropriate energy development in the Flathead River Basin," Baucus said in a prepared statement.

While the B.C. Ministry of Environment says it would require BP to re-inject any water brought forth during coalbed methane work, researchers from the University of Montana Flathead Biological Station stress that the water would likely resurface rapidly.

"No one has successfully done that there, that I know of, and nobody knows whether it's actually possible or not," said Dr. Richard Hauer, professor of limnology at the Flathead Biological Station. "These are highly fractured systems. It's not like re-injection of water back into the coal beds of the Powder River Basin. I don't think they can guarantee the water will stay [where it has been re-injected]."

Currently, the river is not afforded any protection in British Columbia, though in 1988 the International Joint Commission ruled that the proposed open-pit Cabin Creek coal mine would violate the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty between the United States and Canada.

Despite opposition, BP intends to move ahead with its plans and currently is "only doing environmental studies and has not applied for any [coalbed methane exploration] permits yet," according to BP Canada Energy's vice president of government and public affairs, Anita Perry.

"We appreciate the concerns of Montanans, and we're committed to identifying and addressing potential environmental impacts, and we'll be doing that in the appraisal stage," Perry told Prospects.

Perry added that BP's environmental studies would be conducted by an "independent" third party hired by BP, and the results of the studies would be made publicly available by BP -- a requirement of the provincial government's new energy plan.

During the appraisal stage, Perry said, BP would use "existing footprints where possible," and insisted that the company would abide by the province's "very strict" environmental guidelines -- which until only recently, allowed surface discharge of mine wastewater.

"We know their concerns are around disturbance of water, so anything having to do with that, we'll be carefully looking at," Perry said. "We won't proceed with the project unless there's an environmentally responsible and economically viable way to do it."

But opposing interests, such as the Kalispell, Mont.-based Flathead Basin Commission, cite BP's 2006 Prudhoe Bay oil spill, which a U.S. Congressional committee attributed to "cost-cutting," and BP's 2005 Texas refinery explosion, which killed 15 workers and earned BP a $21-million OSHA fine, as evidence of a less-than-stellar record of environmental stewardship.

When asked by Prospects if BP's recent history could pose a credibility problem for the company, Perry replied that "Our commitment is we won't have damage … We would never move forward with the project unless our appraisal work demonstrates that an environmentally responsible and economically viable project can be delivered. We understand the importance of operating safely and environmentally sound, and that's what we'll do."

But the University of Montana scientists who specialize in Flathead Basin hydrology and ecology say there's no environmentally sound way to mine coalbed methane in such a sensitive river system that supports a multitude of listed species.

"What they're talking about is the eventual industrialization of an extremely wild place," said Hauer, referring to the development of infrastructure for a coalbed methane operation and the human traffic it would by necessity incur.

Hauer added that he felt that any such development in the area would endanger critical bull trout spawning habitat and the charismatic megafauna that depend on their populations, and would inevitably pollute Montana's Flathead Lake, which is two-days' river-flow time from BP's proposed Mist Mountain project.

"Even if everything goes perfectly, they're still screwing it up," Hauer told Prospects.

-  Penelope Kern