HELENA (AP) -- A commission's 1988 ruling that a proposed coal mine near Glacier National Park would violate an international water treaty would likely still apply to a renewed effort to open the mine, the U.S. State Department says.

Sen. Max Baucus asked the department last month to review the International Joint Commission's ruling concerning the proposed coal mining project in the Cabin Creek drainage, just north of the Canadian border.

The commission originally concluded unanimously that the mine would violate the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty because of the strong potential for damage to water quality on the U.S. side of the Flathead River Basin.

Cline Mining Corp. of Toronto purchased coal leases in the same area in February and said it intends to go into full production within the next two years. In a May 19 letter to Baucus, the State Department said it had reviewed the 1988 decision and Cline's proposal.

''The United States government has informed the government of Canada that we consider that the IJC's previous analysis and conclusions on development in the Flathead River Basin still stands," wrote Paul V. Kelly, assistant State Department secretary of legislative affairs.

Cline Mining's plan has renewed concern among a number of organizations in the Flathead Valley, including the Flathead Lakers, an advocacy group for Flathead Lake water quality, the National Parks Conservation Association and the Flathead Basin Commission. Baucus has also said previously that he will oppose the mine.