BP's Natural Gas Work In British Columbia Withdrawn

The natural-gas work by BP in British Columbia, Canada, is being dropped because of environmental alarms, U.S. Senator Max Baucus said Thursday.

Energy giant BP and B.C. officials came to a conclusion, that extraction of coal-bed methane, a type of natural gas, will not be pursued in the province.

BP Canada spokeswoman Anita Perry said the possibility of coal-bed methane development in the Canadian Flathead has been withdrawn from provincial evaluation of a larger area where BP remains interested in potential coal-bed methane work.

BP supported the approach the government, Perry said.

In Montana, alarm arose about possible harm to water quality in the Flathead River system, which spans the B.C.-Montana border. The river's North Fork forms the western boundary of Glacier and flows into Montana's Flathead Lake, AP reported.