Board to be updated on mine challenges

DOVER — The latest developments in challenges to two contested mining projects in northwestern Montana will be discussed when the Pend Oreille Basin Commission meets on Wednesday.

The meeting starts at 10 a.m. at Dover City Hall, located at 699 Lakeshore Ave.

The Rock Creek Alliance will update the commission on litigation aimed at halting development of the proposed Rock Creek mine, which is upstream from Lake Pend Oreille.

There will also be an update on the proposed Montanore mine, which is being opposed by Save Our Cabinets.

The Rock Creek Alliance moved for summary judgment in state court last summer to force Rock Creek mine developer Revett Minerals to obtain an individual, site-specific water quality permit. The Montana Department of Environmental Quality processed Revett’s permit as a broader general permit, which the Rock Creek Alliance argues fails to adequately address sedimentation caused by development of the mining project near Noxon.

“We felt that needed to be addressed and this lawsuit is going to have the courts look at that mainly because of the bull trout that would be impacted by the sediment,” said Jim Costello of Rock Creek Alliance.

The alliance argues road construction and development of an evaluation adit will increase sediment loads in the West Fork of Rock Creek by 46 percent. Development of the main adit and the mine’s mill, meanwhile, will boost sediment loading by 20 percent in the East Fork, according to court documents.

The loading poses a threat to endangered bull trout, which are particularly sensitive to sediment pollution.

Costello said a hearing in the case is expected to be held this spring.

The alliance is also involved in two U.S. District Court lawsuits which seek to dislodge federal permits issued for the copper and silver mine beneath the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness.

The Kootenai National Forest has released a draft environmental impact statement on the Montanore project, another copper and silver mine proposed south of Libby.

Montanore Minerals Corp. proposes piping treated wastewater to land-application sites. Save Our Cabinets, an offshoot to the Rock Creek Alliance, was formed to concentrate focus and funding on challenging the Montanore proposal without detracting from the alliance’s efforts concerning the Rock Creek proposal.

Although the U.S. Forest Service has completed a draft EIS for Montanore, Costello said Save Our Cabinets is still awaiting documentation on potential impacts to bull trout and grizzly bear and how those impacts could be mitigated.

“We’re not sure where they will go from here,” Costello said, referring to the Forest Service. “We’ve not seen a biological assessment yet. We don’t know if they’re going to issue a final EIS so we’re just very unclear as to where that project is at this time.”