Mine isn't danger to water quality

On a recent Spokane radio talk show, I heard the comments by Mary Mitchell of the Rock Creek Alliance describing the demise of water quality in the Clark Fork River and Lake Pend Oreille by discharge of wastewater from the coming Rock Creek Mine. I was extremely disturbed by these allegations, and decided to investigate on my own. A call to the US Forest Service (USFS) was very informative.

I would like to correct Ms. Mitchell's misconceptions and allay her fears. First of all, any water discharge from this operation is regulated by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The requirements for water discharge are dreadfully complicated, but they basically enforce a non-degradation standard. This means that the treated water from the mine, basically groundwater emanating from the mine tunnels, must be at least as clean as the water in the Clark Fork River. The 1,000+page Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), painstakingly created jointly by the USFS and the DEQ over 10+ years, addressed all of the possible discharge scenarios.

Secondly, the discharge of treated groundwater is estimated to be about 3 million gallons per day. This sounds like a great deal of water, but is really only the amount required to fill a very large swimming pool. The flow of the massive Clark Fork River near Rock Creek is approximately 6,000 cubic feet per second. This is equal to about 45,000 gallons per second. The discharge of treated groundwater would be approximately 35 gallons per second. Therefore, there will be an incredible dilution of treated water by the Clark Fork River. This mixing of the treated water with the Clark Fork water will be done in a very short distance by a highly engineered discharge system, not just a pipe dumping into the river at a single point. There is no threat to water quality, get a life Ms. Mitchell.

JIM EBISCH

Spokane