Rally Protests Proposed Mine Sandpoint Residents Fight Asarco’s Plans To Dump Wastewater Into Lake

About 200 residents rallied here Tuesday to protest a proposed mine near Noxon, Mont., which would dump wastewater into Lake Pend Oreille.

The group, which organizers had hoped would number 2,000, gathered on Sandpoint’s Long Bridge for a two-mile protest walk against Asarco Inc. Residents waved signs reading, “Save Our Water,” “Hey Asarco, Eat Copper” and “It’s not fine for your mine to pollute our beautiful lake.”

Nine baseball bats also were passed around for marchers to sign.

“We are going to bat against Asarco and sending these bats to Gov. Phil Batt,” said protester Al Czap.

“We are worried about what that mine is going to do to our lake. I was born in Kellogg and lived in Wallace. I know what mining did there and I don’t want it up here,” he said.

Asarco wants to sink a massive copper and silver mine, one of the largest in North America, in the Cabinet Mountains. The site is 25 miles upstream from Lake Pend Oreille.

What worries residents here most is a 340-acre storage area for mine waste, called tailings.

The tailings pond would be near Rock Creek, which eventually makes its way to Lake Pend Oreille. Asarco also has applied with regulators to pump 1,700 gallons of mine wastewater a minute into the Clark Fork River, which also empties into Lake Pend Oreille.

“I would love to stop the mine completely, dead in its tracks,” said protester Bill Lewis.

“I certainly don’t want Montana’s mine wastewater coming down into my lake. Eventually, it will pollute everything downstream.”

The protest included short speeches from Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Walt Minnick and Idaho Sen. Tim Tucker.

Tucker said Asarco expects to reap $7 billion from the mine.

“They will lie, cheat and steal to do that,” Tucker said. He urged the crowd to be diligent in battling the mining company, which has hired a high-powered lobbying firm to woo Idaho lawmakers.

The protest was organized, in part, to rally support for a trip to the Montana Legislature. In November, voters there will consider a citizens initiative calling for stronger water quality rules. If the initiative passes, it would put tighter restrictions on what Asarco can pump from its mine into the river. Asarco is fighting the proposal.

“We want to make our voice heard in Montana,” Lewis said. “It’s time we took on some of these companies, and if we can get enough people, we have the power to do it.”

At the very least, residents want Asarco to line its tailings pond, which will seep 350 gallons of water a minute into the ground. Asarco officials maintain any discharged water will be safe and meet state water quality guidelines before being sent to the river.

But the treatment system ASARCO has proposed is experimental, and residents at the rally said they do not trust the company.

“They have a bad track record already. They have 21 Superfund sites they need to clean up now,” Czap said. “When they finish cleaning up all those and prove they are sincere, then maybe we will listen.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo