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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Mine Plan Hearing Draws 300

Asarco’s plan to sink a huge silver and copper mine in the Cabinet Mountains was panned by residents here Wednesday, who said piles of mine waste would pollute Lake Pend Oreille.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out a mountain of contamination right next to the Clark Fork River is going to pollute our lake,” said Charlton Mills.

He was one of nearly 300 people who turned out for a public hearing on the Rock Creek mine that Asarco Inc. wants to put in the Cabinet Wilderness, just east of the Idaho-Montana border.

“The Clark Fork River is not Asarco’s toilet,” Mills said. “We can’t let Montana get the jobs while we take the pollution. We demand better.”

Most at the meeting passionately opposed the project. They chided Montana environmental officials for a poorly done environmental impact study, and lax enforcement on other projects. One man read from the Bible and another wrote his own poem entitled “Cry Me a River,” to make his point.

A handful of Troy, Mont., residents, miners and Asarco employees made their pitch for the mine, saying it would bring much-needed jobs and boost the local economy.

But most of the testimony focused on the location for storing mine waste, called tailings. The tailings impoundment, which would cover 340 acres and reach a height of 300 feet, would be 400 yards from Clark Fork River.

The river provides 90 percent of the water to Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho’s largest and one of its most pristine lakes.

“I don’t want to see Montana get the mine and Idaho get the shaft,” said Jean Gerth, vice president of the Clark Fork-Pend Oreille Coalition.

“Water quality is the issue for us. We don’t have the mine but we do get the water.”

Gerth, along with many others, said Asarco shouldn’t be allowed to discharge mine wastewater into the river. They also asked Montana officials to require a liner under the pile of mine waste to keep contaminated water from seeping into the ground and river. Or better yet, they said, scrap the whole project.

“We don’t want Lake Pend Oreille turned into a giant septic tank. There should be no risks taken and we shouldn’t tolerate any possibility of an environmental catastrophe,” said Sandpoint resident Mark Matthews.

Joe Gilmer, a Troy, Mont., businessman, said Asarco is environmentally responsible. He used the Troy mine, now closed, as an example of a non-polluting successful operation that boosted the town’s economy.

Gilmer also said Asarco’s latest venture would provide jobs for out-of-work miners and loggers in the area. The new mine would employ about 340 people.

Gene Colby, who worked for Asarco for nearly 40 years, also defended the proposal.

He said the mining company can be trusted to protect water quality, but drew jeers when he claimed mining in Idaho’s Silver Valley hasn’t hurt Lake Coeur d’Alene.

Asarco critics said they don’t want Lake Pend Oreille turned into another mining Superfund site like Butte, Mont.

“It’s a disaster that is going to happen,” said Hope, Idaho, resident Jerry Morris. “The question isn’t if it will happen, it’s when. And I don’t want to be paying to fix problems after they occur.”

Added 83-year-old Don Kotschevar: “Why can’t Asarco put the tailings back in the mine? If they take it out they can put it back where it belongs.”

, DataTimes MEMO: IDAHO HEADLINE: Mine plan hearing draws 300, most worried they’ll ‘get shaft’

IDAHO HEADLINE: Mine plan hearing draws 300, most worried they’ll ‘get shaft’