Mine foes challenge Revett's appeals
SANDPOINT - The Rock Creek Alliance is scoffing at public appeals by Revett Minerals to make the business climate in Montana more hospitable toward mine development.
Revett's chairman of the board called on Montana lawmakers to streamline permitting processes and help thwart legal interference on mining projects.
"The business environment in Montana is viewed rather dimly by the investment community," Tim Lindsay was quoted as saying in a Billings Gazette report on public hearings moderated by state legislators. "If you say Montana and mining in the same sentence, you're finished with your presentation."
The Rock Creek Alliance, a group at the forefront of a battle against Revett's proposed Rock Creek mine near Noxon, can't help but think Lindsay had his company's embattled copper and silver mining project in mind when he testified in Helena on Jan. 8.
Rock Creek Alliance spokesman Jim Costello said the industry already benefits from the 1872 Mining Law, which gives it "unfettered access" to public lands. Costello added that there's a reason why its legal challenges have gained footing.
"What Mr. Lindsay fails to understand is that the Rock Creek Mine has been successfully challenged for the past decade because the project remains seriously flawed and the impacts extreme," said Costello.
Last spring, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy remanded the Rock Creek project's record of decision and its environmental impact statement back to the U.S. Forest Service's Kootenai National Forest for further analysis.
Revett seeks to tunnel beneath the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness to extract an estimated 6 million ounces of silver and 52 million pounds of copper. The company maintains that its mining proposal is environmentally sound and capable of generating several hundred jobs.
The Rock Creek Alliance holds that the project threatens grizzly bear and bull trout habitat, and jeopardizes water quality in the Clark Fork River, where millions of gallons of treated wastewater from the mine will be discharged.
As for Lindsay and his industry colleagues' calls for more predictability and stability in the permitting process, Costello said the Rock Creek plan is the same "abomination" it was when it was first proposed 20 years ago and marvels that it has managed to get this far through the regulatory process.
Costello said the state's fairness toward the mining industry should not even be a consideration.
"The industry lobbying for predictability are mining companies seeking a guarantee. The risk will always be high and the outcome in doubt when companies propose projects in pristine and fragile environments such as the Rock Creek Valley and the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness," Costello said.
The alliance anticipates the mine proposal and the geography of the region will continue to make Montana legislative action an Idaho issue. The group also expects Revett to ask for even more help from Montana officials in the company's efforts to put the mine into operation.