Conservation Groups Call on Cline to Abandon Strip Mine in World Heritage Site Headwaters
Canadian and US conservation groups are calling on Cline Mining (TSX CMK) Corp.’s Board of Directors to announce today at their Annual General Meeting in Vancouver that the company will abandon its proposed Flathead coal strip mine.
The Lodgepole mine would remove 40 million tonnes of coal from a Flathead mountain and dump more than 325 million tonnes of waste rock into Foisey Creek, a headwaters stream of the endangered Flathead River. The Flathead River is a transboundary river that flows into the United States portion of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, a United Nations World Heritage site and Biosphere Reserve.
“We call on Cline’s Directors to abandon this project immediately,” said Will Hammerquist of the National Parks Conservation Association’s Waterton-Glacier Field Office. “Cline’s proposal clearly contradicts mining industry commitments not to compromise the integrity of protected areas, including World Heritage sites.”
The Lodgepole project is at the center of an international controversy over the future of BC’s Flathead River Valley, compared to Africa’s Serengeti for its richness of species. Later this month, the World Heritage Committee will consider a petition from 11 Canadian and US conservation organizations asking that Waterton-Glacier be declared a World Heritage Site “In Danger” due to the proposed Lodgepole Mine and other energy and mining threats in BC’s adjoining Flathead River Valley. Petitioners include the US National Parks Conservation Association, Sierra Club BC and Wildsight.
Seventeen of the world’s 17 largest mining companies—through the International Council on Mining & Metals (ICMM)—have a public position paper on protected areas that says future operations adjacent to World Heritage properties should “not put the integrity of these properties at risk.”
“Mining industry leaders—including Teck and the Mining Association of Canada—are on record saying that industry operations should not threaten World Heritage sites,” said Sarah Cox of Sierra Club BC. “The Lodgepole Mine proposal ignores this commitment. A coal strip mine in the Flathead wilderness would tarnish the reputation of so-called ‘Supernatural BC.’”
The Lodgepole Mine proposal has drawn strong opposition from the U.S. Federal Government and the State of Montana. U.S. State Department comments provided to the BC Environmental Assessment Office stated, in part, that “We believe that significant adverse environmental effects may occur in the United State should the Cline Mining Company project move forward as proposed.”
“We question whether Cline Mining can continue to market the Lodgepole Mine as a viable project,” said Hammerquist, who be attending the World Heritage Committee meetings in Spain to present the petition. “Cline’s AGM is an opportunity for company Directors to recognize publicly that this project would violate industry commitments and to abandon the project immediately.”
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Contact: Sarah Cox, Sierra Club BC: (250) 386-5255×257, c. (250) 812-1762
Will Hammerquist, National Parks Conservation Association, Montana (406-885-9455)
