Missoulian: Montana senators reintroduce bill to protect North Fork Flathead River

Montana U.S. Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester on Thursday reintroduced a bill that would bar mining and new oil and gas development on the North Fork of the Flathead River.

In announcing the legislation, the Democratic senators said the North Fork Watershed Protection Act, which has twice stalled in previous legislative sessions as time ran out, would complete U.S. obligations to a transboundary agreement that protects the Canadian and Montana sides of the Flathead River drainage from energy and mineral development.