Drilling dispute pushing boundaries - Bands says "no" to Amoco's plans for sacred mountain

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A dispute over gas drilling on a sacred mountain is pushing the boundaries of archeological studies that determine whether areas should be protected for their historical significance.

"The kind of uses people had for that area isn't well protected in legislation," said anthropologist Doug Hudson, who is helping Chetwynd-area bands with historical and cultural studies of Beattie Peaks.

"The mountains were used. But the uses weren't all that visible in terms of what the researchers were looking for."

Beattie Peaks is known as the Two Mountains That Sit Together by the Saulteau, Beaver and Cree people who live in the foothills of northeastern B.C.

The twin peaks figure prominently in local tradition. It has long been the site of vision quests, medicine gathering and healing. The Saulteau bands migrated to the area after the extinction of the prairie bison in the mid-19th century, following the vision of the holy man.

To the oil and gas giant Amoca, however, Beattie Peaks show potential for sour gas development. The company wants to drill a test well on the mountain. If the results are good, it could lead to more wells and the construction of a pipeline and gas plant.

According to a company-sponsored survey, the test well area does not contain significant archeological deposits. Researchers found stray pieces of carved stone, records of grave and cabin remains.

The bands rejected the study's findings and started their own investigation - funded in part by the provincial government and Amoco.

"It's a special place where people receive life," said Verne Lalonde, who's documenting the traditional knowledge through interviews with elders.

"If a world disaster or anything like that happens, that is where the people are supposed to go....Those mountains are supposed to be protected, they are a special place."

Hudson said the study could set precedents for archaeological impact assessments if the band is successful in preserving the area based on oral history rather than physical artifacts."

"If it can be shown any historical impact study is more than artifacts in the ground, it will be quite an improvement."

Amoco has suspended its work in the area pending the study's conclusion. Don Smith, head of the company's Native affairs department, said it is the first time he has ever heard of such steps taken in an archeological impact assessment.

But even if the new process represents a step forward in preserving Native culture, it does not appear likely to resolve the development dispute over the peaks.

Smith said Amoco hopes the band's study will lead to a compromise that satisfies business and cultural concerns.

"It's new. It's requiring us to adapt," he said. "The hopeful thing would be...if the work would help us and help the people in the area."

Opposition to the project, however, remains strong with the band's political organization. They say the mountain is not only spiritually significant, but also one of the few undeveloped environments left in the area.

"That area is first of all in Treaty 8," band administrator Michelle Good said. "It's of spiritual significance. It's a pristline area....For them to go in there would just destroy it."