Environmental groups, a coalition of 11 U.S. and Canadian environmental groups, warrant investigation British Columbia coal mine exploration project in Southeastern.

The groups on Thursday requested investigation by the International Joint Commission, a Canada-U.S. panel charged with preventing and resolving disputes under a 1909 water treaty. Possible contamination of water in the Flathead River system, which flows into Montana from Canada, is among the groups’ concerns.

The groups are against open-pit coal mining proposed for a site about 25 miles north of Glacier National Park. They also have been alarmed by talk of potential coal-bed methane extraction in British Columbia.

Although officials have said coal-bed methane work in the transboundary Flathead Valley has been taken off the table, there is worry that it will commence in the province’s nearby Elk Valley and later spread to the Flathead, said Will Hammerquist of the National Parks Conservation Association, one of the 11 groups.

In the 1980s, a proposal for coal mining just north of Glacier ended after the International Joint Commission found it likely to violate the water treaty.

The environmental groups say they want the commission to revisit its finding and ensure that federal and provincial governments considering the new proposal, from Canada’s Cline Mining Corp., take measures to protect fish and wildlife.

Commission spokesman Frank Bevacqua said the letter from the environmental groups, represented by the law offices of Ecojustice in Canada and Earthjustice in the United States, had been received. Bevacqua said that before he can comment on the next steps, the proposal must be examined by commission staff members, most of whom have been traveling for hearings on water levels in Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River.

British Columbia officials have said industrial development would not occur without thorough environmental review and mandatory safeguards.

Besides requesting the study, the environmental groups want the World Heritage Committee, an arm of the United Nations, to designate Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park a World Heritage Site in Danger when meeting in Quebec next week. Glacier and Canada’s Waterton Lakes National Park comprise the peace park.

The World Heritage Site designation from the UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, is in recognition of extraordinary cultural or natural resources. Glacier is one of 20 World Heritage locations in the United States.

U.S. groups pressing for action by the International Joint Commission and the World Heritage Committee include The Wilderness Society. Wildsight is among the Canadian groups.

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