Clinton on the cover? For shame

Letter to the Editor

As a mining engineer and mine property owner, I was amazed at the front page of your July 2-8, 2007, issue. I have been receiving The Northern Miner for probably 37 years and never did I dream that the article with (former U.S. president) Bill Clinton would get such a review.

There were no investments with the ultimate goal of philanthropy in effect, to my knowledge, while he was president. Rather, a whole contingent of anti-mining administrators covered the federal lands. Mining, with the push from environmentalists, was to die. It might still happen, too, because in many cases these conditions still exist.

A perfect example is a gold property near Chesaw, Wash. Its development has been stymied for 13-14 years. What’s next?

I have encountered many unbearable obstacles on my properties. I can’t even build a simple all-terrain vehicle bridge over a small creek.

To me, it would seem fair if Bill Clinton and his philanthropy co-managers would pay back losses incurred under his presidency. I have an excellent property with high gold values. Therefore if I were to receive $10 million for it, I would gladly give $5 million to homeless children. This has been a goal I want to pursue.

The most costly and worst anti-mining occurrence was committed by the United States Forestry Service (USFS) on my Idaho gold property. The USFS confiscated my $3,500 bond and backfilled 40% of my hand-dug trenches. This occurred even though the plan of operation said trenches would only be backfilled once the project was complete. The USFS isn’t going to open them up again, so what’s next?

Wallace Vaux

Blaine, Wash.