A forum on potential development in the Canadian Flathead drainage opened with a bang Thursday, with Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., announcing that energy giant BP is withdrawing plans for coal-bed methane development in the basin.

"Just several hours ago, I got a call from the head of BP … and he told me they've made a final decision: They're not going to develop coal-bed methane in the Flathead," Baucus said, getting a rousing cheer from an audience of about 200 at Flathead Valley Community College.

Baucus said he further pressed BP America President Bob Malone in the conversation, asking if the decision was indeed final, "and he said yes."

In a parallel action on Wednesday, the British Columbia Ministry of Energy issued BP "tenure referral" - an exclusive right to pursue permits for methane development in the Crowsnest coal field northeast of the Flathead River drainage.

"The Flathead Valley is not part of the tenure area," confirmed Jamie Edwardson, a ministry spokesman. "The province recognizes the environmental sensitivity of the Flathead area and has not included this area in the tenure referral."

Edwardson said the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission will oversee the permit process, which involves environmental assessments for proposed methane well sites.

Baucus headlined Thursday's community forum along with Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Gov. Brian Schweitzer, also a Democrat. The forum was attended by Flathead area business owners, Republican and Democratic elected officials, state and federal agency representatives and members of local chambers of commerce and conservation groups.

Baucus said strong, organized opposition in Montana and in Canada obviously had an influence in excluding the Canadian Flathead from the tenure area. But BP and the provincial government are not abandoning the Crowsnest coalfield altogether.

Baucus said Malone told him that BP will pursue permits for coal-bed methane development in other parts of southeastern British Columbia, including the Elk River Valley, which flows west into the transboundary reservoir, Lake Koocanusa.

The company's initial proposal involved up to 1,500 coal-bed methane wells over 200 square miles of undeveloped and mostly pristine landscape. The tenure area now encompasses about 148,000 acres.

Excluding the Flathead substantially reduced the scope of the project, but not necessarily to the satisfaction of Montana's elected leadership.

Pollution from coal-bed methane wastewater would continue to pose a threat to the Elk River and downstream into Lake Koocanusa and Montana's Kootenai basin.

"Today we got some action," Schweitzer told the crowd. "But we're not done. My guess is that if we win this battle, we're not going to sell out on the Kootenai."

Representing the Canadian conservation group Wildsight at the forum was Casey Brennan, who gave a slide presentation aimed at demonstrating land disturbance that comes with the development of methane well pads, supporting roads and other infrastructure.

The biggest concern about the wells is not only the salty, heavy-metal-laden waste water that comes from coal seams, but also stream-choking sediments that can wash from disturbed ground for decades.

In Montana, there has been a long-standing concern about the downstream impacts from any coal development in the Canadian Flathead, a drainage where Montana bull trout and cutthroat trout spawn and a stronghold for grizzly bears in the Northern Rockies.

Baucus, Tester and Schweitzer said that an open-pit coal mine that has been proposed above one of the northernmost tributaries of the Flathead River remains a threat. But the Canadian federal government recently announced that it will conduct an environmental assessment for that project, proposed by the Ottawa-based Cline Mining Corp.

And that process could take about three years, Baucus said.

Rich Moy, chairman of the Flathead Basin Commission, told the forum audience of his concern that once roads and other infrastructure for one extraction operation is developed, more mining and drilling would follow.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com