Mine Workers Pack Meeting On Cda Basin Industry Wants Government Scientists To Turn Over Raw Data Used In Studies

More than two dozen mining employees and their spouses spiced up the regular meeting of the Coeur d’Alene Basin Interagency Group on Wednesday.

Wearing baseball caps declaring “Mining is part of your life” and stickers emblazoned with “Where’s the data?” the group left standing room only at the normally dry, scientific meeting.

State and federal scientists found their credibility challenged as they attempted to share results from their studies with the group.

“Basically, we feel the federal government is using this material as a propaganda package,” said mining industry spokeswoman Holly Houston, referring to studies that showed nine species of waterfowl are dying from lead poisoning in the Coeur d’Alene basin and fish are avoiding the South Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River.

Houston said the studies are good for scaring the public, “but they’re not giving specifics.”

She and others complained they’ve been stone-walled from getting the raw data used in the studies.

Dick Pedersen of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service accepted a hand-delivered written request for the data from an industry environmental engineer during the meeting.

Afterward, Pedersen said he had never been asked for the data before, and denied that the purpose of the study was to further any cause - other than cleaning up the basin.

“It’s not propaganda, it’s pure science,” he said.

Prompting the big turnout was the federal lawsuit filed last month against four mining companies over the heavy metal pollution in the Silver Valley.

“These employees are very worried about what the federal government’s going to do,” Houston said.

The mining companies deny that the damage is as extensive as environmentalists claim. Houston said the scientific studies are being used to press the government’s case, but the data is not being shared with mining interests.

She carried with her a letter from the U.S. Department of Interior that denied access to documents that “might compromise our litigating position.” The letter did not specifically deny scientific data, however.

Agency scientists at Wednesday’s meeting said the data is available to those who ask.

Coeur d’Alene Tribe spokesman Bob Bostwick called the impressive turnout “an organized tantrum.”

The politically charged meeting “is just foreshadowing of what you’ll see in the future,” said one U.S. Geological Survey scientist.

, DataTimes