The Domestic and International Balancing Act

The North Fork of the Flathead River begins in Canada, and flows south from there to the United States (Montana, specifically). As this Field & Stream photo essay states, British Columbia's government plans to allow a mining company to dig a massive coalmine along the Canadian portion of the river. The photo essay shows, quite plainly, what the proposed mine would do to the river. As this Washington Post article details, both the Governor of Montana and President Bush have raised serious objections to the mine, expressing fears that mining along the river in Canada would destroy the American stretch of the river as well. A conservation group, the North Fork Preservation Association, has a blog about the conflict that contains yet more information.

The actors in the conflict find themselves forced to answer the two central questions posed in our class today: how can we balance energy needs and environmental protection, and do we need to co-ordinate our environmental protection efforts with other nations?

While the world is still grappling with the former question, the North Fork example provides a particularly clear answer to the latter question. We absolutely need to co-ordinate our conservation efforts with other nations. If Canada opens the Canadian portion of the river to mining, any conservation efforts along the American portion would be shoveling against the tide. That said, the failure of other nations to act is never an excuse for our own inaction. We're a global leader economically and politically. We have an obligation to act as a global environmental leader as well. We're failing to meet that obligation.