Flathead Basin Commission Cline Mine

109 Cooperative Way Ste 110A
Kalispell, Montana 59901
406.752.0081
Fax 406.752.2843
fbc@mt.gov

Cline Mine in a nutshell

"Before" pictures image © 2005 Erin Sexton
This is what the landscape looks like today.
lodgepole

This is the ridge that would become a coal pit should the mining go forward. The water is some of cleanest in the world and headed for Flathead Lake.

Cline Mining Company proposes to extract 2 million tons per year of low grade metallurgic coal and mix with a higher grade coal.

The mine would operate 24 hours per day for 365 days per year for 20 years.

Coal would be hauled by truck to Morissey, railed to Vancouver and then shipped to China for steel production.

Cline funding is from Japan and Germany.

Existing Coal Mountain Mine located less than 10 air miles from the proposed Cline mine in the Elk River basin.

Click to enlarge image
This is a potentional "After" picture if the mine becomes operational
in the Flathead headwaters. image © 2005 Erin Sexton

Elkview Mine
These are potentional "After" pictures of the Cline Mine if it goes
through at our headwaters.
all images © 2005 Erin Sexton
Click to enlarge image 168kb version 2MB version

Click to enlarge image 180kb version 2MB version
all images © 2005 Erin Sexton

Elkview Mine

So what has this to do with us, the Flathead River and Flathead Lake?

Based on data provided by the Canadians, the receiving water for the Elk Valley coal mine (which would be comparable to Cline) showed pollution levels significantly above baseline conditions.

Selenium - 25 x higher than baseline
Nitrates/nitrites - 300-500 times higher than baseline
Biodiversity significantly impacts - 7 macroinvertebrate species vs. 75 species in baseline creeks

With Cline, waste dumps literally in the adjacent creeks. Waste will mix with rain run off and the existing creek water and contamination will occur - similar to the type of contamination seen with the Elk Valley mine.

B C Flathead at Foisey Creek confluence
image © 2005 Erin Sexton
If the mine goes forward, this will be the tailing dumping grounds.

The Flathead Lake Biological station estimates that pollutants will reach Flathead lake w/in 48 hours of release (or mixing) because this is a very fast moving system.

In a worst case scenario, if a waste dump(s) fail, there would be a major flush throughout the system with much higher levels of pollution. Waste dumps have failed at many sites, and this cannot be ruled out.