North Fork bill caught up in Montana politics

Didn’t we all think that the international effort to protect the North Fork Flathead River from coal mining was all but done in 2013?

British Columbia had passed legislation in 2011 banning mining and energy development north of the border. And or the first time in some 20 years, Montana’s congressional delegation all supported a piece of conservation legislation — the North Fork Watershed Protection Act. The stars had finally aligned after 38 years of local, a-political effort to protect the North Fork.

Regretfully, it was not to be.

Congressional gridlock seems to permeate the “ether,” affecting this legislation that everyone supports — Republicans and Democrats, independents, local chambers of commerce and city councils, and even the energy industry. Three Republican U.S. senators from other states put a hold on this made-in-Montana bill. In a blink, the North Fork Watershed Protection Act went from a-political to political.

We hear a lot about “congressional gridlock.” We think it’s something Washington, D.C. invented, and we think our congress-people are somehow above it all, that we can send them to D.C. to “clean up Washington.” But the history of the North Fork legislation demonstrates that gridlock is just as much a Montana political problem as it is a D.C. problem.

Our congress-people say they support the bill, but during the election cycle (which seems to run continuously from election to election anymore) their support vanishes in election-year rhetoric about how Congress is “broken.” It’s a game where Daines can’t “afford” to give Walsh a “victory” in his bid for a U.S. Senate seat — and vice versa. Neither can actually accomplish the work of the “people” because of political engineering.

Montana politics are broken. Montana politics reflects Washington politics of winner-take-all and the vilification of others. Or, conversely, Washington is just a reflection of our dysfunction at home.

The consequence — legislation that Montanans have asked for, nay demanded, remains subject to political one-upmanship. Remains un-done.

The brilliant quality of the North Fork Watershed Protection Act is that it brought people together. It demonstrates the power of a good idea and of people working together. The North Fork River is a place everyone cherishes.

And yet the short-sightedness of our politicians brings us all down to the lowest common denominator — seeking political power for its own sake.

Dave Hadden is the executive director of Headwaters Montana. He can be reached at info@wildmontana.org.