Montana governor, British Columbia premier sign mining, drilling ban for border valley

Governor, premier sign mining, drilling ban

HELENA, Mont. — Leaders from Montana and British Columbia have signed an agreement banning mining and drilling in a valley along the U.S.-Canadian border north of Glacier National Park.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Premier Gordon Campbell finalized the deal Thursday morning in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The agreement was announced last week.

Efforts to stop mining in the region date to the 1980s, when a U.S.-Canada joint commission rejected an open pit coal mine in the valley because of potential environmental damage.

The deal halts ongoing exploration work and prohibits future development of coal, oil and gas in the sprawling Flathead Valley, just upstream from Glacier National Park.