Crown Butte Mines’ New World gold-copper-silver project in Montana continues to grind through the permitting, legal and political process.
As the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) nears completion, Montana’s governor, Marc Racicot, has sided with “open government” and allowed the release of internal working drafts of agency documents.
Meanwhile, a citizens’ suit filed in Montana District Court alleges the company violated the Clean Water Act by not having permits for discharge of historic mine drainage. Visits by President Clinton in August, and by other politicians and United Nations representatives in September, have had the effect of keeping the project in the public eye.
Crown Butte started the permitting process in 1990 by submitting applications for operating permits to the U.S. Forest Service and the state of Montana. And release of the EIS is expected before 1996. The obstacles that the project has faced over the years have been considerable.
In September 1993, Sierra Legal Defense Fund, on behalf of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and eight other environmental groups, filed a Clean Water Act Citizens’ suit against Crown Butte and four other corporate defendants. The plaintiffs alleged violations of the Clean Water Act — specifically that waters flowing from the historic New World mining district had not been permitted under the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System. In far-reaching rulings, the U.S. District Court disregarded the existence of natural acid drainage that has been occurring at the site for thousands for years in considering whether prohibitive levels of pollutants were being discharged.
President Clinton supplemented his Wyoming vacation by flying over the New World mine site and holding an unprecedented, closed-door meeting with representatives of 14 environmental groups. He subsequently withdrew 19,000 acres in the area by placing a 2-year moratorium on new mineral claims.
In another show of present-day politics, the United Nations World Heritage Commission toured Yellowstone Park and stated that a buffer zone was needed around the park to encompass the entire Yellowstone ecosystem.
— From “Northwest Mining Association Bulletin,” published by the Spokane, Wash.-based Northwest Mining Association.
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