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

Batt Rebuffs Conservation League Mining Reforms Plans To Change State Law Met By Skeptical Governor Who Questions Objectivity

Mark Warbis Associated Press

Still stinging from the attempt to void his nuclear waste deal with the federal government, Gov. Phil Batt responded curtly to an environmental group’s proposals for Surface Mining Act reforms.

Rick Johnson, executive director of the Idaho Conservation League, appeared before the state Land Board on Tuesday to outline three proposals for changes to the state mining law aimed at ensuring reclamation of mine sites patented by the state.

But the governor was skeptical of the league’s motives, citing the involvement of some of its members in the Stop the Shipments campaign.

“In view of the ICL’s participation in the Proposition 3 debate, I have some question about their objectivity,” Batt said.

Johnson was clearly taken aback, arguing that the Conservation League was not directly involved in the effort to pass a measure on the Nov. 5 ballot to void Batt’s waste agreement.

“Well, it’s all the same, as you know,” Batt angrily replied. “Their positions in the ICL gave them the platform.”

The governor staked his political reputation on the October 1995 deal he struck with the Navy and Energy Department. It allows the dumping of 1,130 additional shipments of highly radioactive waste at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory in exchange for a court-enforced requirement that most waste be moved out of the state in 40 years.

Batt took personal umbrage at the Stop the Shipments campaign. And even though Idaho voters rejected it by a 2-1 ratio, the governor remains upset.

The Land Board took no action on Johnson’s proposed mining reforms Tuesday, but Lands Department Director Stan Hamilton said his agency probably would be returning to the panel with proposed legislation addressing some of the same issues.

Proposals the Conservation League hope to put before the Legislature next month call for:

Allowing the state to collect a reclamation bond in an amount that reflects the actual cost of reclamation, including protection of clean water. Specifically citing Thompson Creek Mining Co.’s bid to patent 2,500 acres of federal land at its central Idaho molybdenum mine, which would transfer environmental protection responsibility to the state, the proposal would eliminate the current $1,800 per acre bonding cap.

Johnson said the Idaho Mining Association has indicated it might be willing to accept increasing the cap to $2,500 per acre with any amount above that subject to review by the Land Board.

Requiring miners to develop plans of operation for approval by the Department of Lands, including assessments of potential environmental impacts and how they will be minimized.

Bringing the effects of underground mining under the Land Department’s regulatory authority to deal with the impact of tailings such as those along the Coeur d’Alene River and its tributaries.

In light of the Thompson Creek patent request, state Senate Resources and Environment Chairman Laird Noh asked the Forest Service last summer to slow down its review of the application so the state could take another look at its mining laws, and perhaps strengthen them.

Weak state mining laws, state mine regulators say, could leave them helpless to protect the public in the event of a costly disaster at the open pit, which shows early signs of an acid drainage problem.

Johnson said the Thompson Creek operation currently is bonded by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management at between $250 and $2,000 per acre, and long-term abatement of acid drainage would not be covered by current state bonding requirements.

Jack Lyman, executive director of the Idaho Mining Association, said the industry was working with the Lands Department on the issue. But he said mining companies would object to requiring plans of operation duplicating federal requirements.

“We don’t want to create a whole new bureaucracy,” Lyman said.

“We think there are some positive changes we can make to the Surface Mining Act to assure the board, the Legislature and the public that the miners of Idaho are responsible.”