Before breaking for lunch today, the House moved up one more resolution: SCR 148, honoring Hecla Mining Co. on its 125^th anniversary. Rep. Paulette Jordan, D-Plummer, spoke out against the resolution, saying, “The behavior of the Hecla Mining Co. has had a disastrous impact.” She noted that the company has been involved in huge settlements over contamination of the Silver Valley in North Idaho. “Hecla Mining Co. is an organization that has caused irreparable harm to Idaho’s environment and many of its citizens, especially those living within our tribal communities,” said Jordan, who is a member of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe. “I don’t believe we should be honoring a business that has been forced to pay more than $300 million for poisoning the water supply and destroying the ecosystem of the Silver Valley in the last five years alone.”

Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, spoke in favor of the resolution, saying lawsuits over environmental contamination are “done a lot of times by radical environmental groups trying to shut them down for their choice of business.” She said, “I think this is a great company and we honor a lot of companies, so I ask for your green light.”

Rep. Luke Malek, R-Coeur d’Alene, the resolution’s House sposor, said, “This industry has changed a tremendous amount, and this company has been a tremendous partner in making sure that this industry is providing for the needs of the local economy as well as the critical minerals that they’re providing to the rest of the world. They’ve done so and been an active partner in making sure that the practices of yesteryear are slowly being erased, and the Silver Valley is transforming back into its original beauty thanks to their efforts.”

The resolution passed on a 62-7 vote; the seven “no” votes came from Reps. Jordan, King, Chew, Kloc, Rudolph, Wintrow and Gannon.

NOTE: This post has been corrected, as an earlier version incorrectly substituted the word "economy" for the word "ecosystem" in the quote from Rep. Jordan.