The B.C. - Montana MOU

The Historic B.C. - Montana MOU

This document represents 35 years of effort to prevent mountaintop-removal coal strip mining of the Canadian headwaters of the North Fork Flathead River.  The MOU was completed by B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell and Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer in February 2010.  Every governor of Montana from 1975 until 2010, republican and democrat, had tried to negotiate such a framework.  The document commits both jurisdictions to legislate a ban on mining and energy development within the watershed.  While the MOU does not have the force of law, it does contain considerable moral imperative.  The MOU was achieved after a concerted ten-year effort by conservation groups, including Headwaters Montana, to pressure the B.C. government to agree to a development ban.

As of September 2011:

• BC has passed an Order in Council (an executive order) implementing the agreement and mining ban.
• The US Senate is considering legislation (S. 233) that would remove federal minerals from future development on federal lands within the watershed.
• The Montana Land Board imposed a "No Surface Occupancy" stipulation on any future mineral development under state lands within the watershed.
• Other measures and protections are pending.

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