Trying to balance mining and wildlife

As the debate over the reauthorization of the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) intensifies, gold-mining companies, which have a big stake in the outcome, face a dilemma.

While the industry supports the law’s main goal of protecting the country’s wealth of plant and animal life, it wants to ensure gold mining is not stifled under the act.

“Most gold-mining companies already follow land management practices that yield an economic resource while minimizing adverse environmental impact to animals, plants, humans and their surroundings,” said Robert Zerga, president of Colorado-based Independence Mining.

“The gold-mining industry would like to see changes in how species are determined to be `endangered’ or `threatened,’ and reductions in the high costs associated with protecting those species.”

There are more than 1,200 species listed as endangered or threatened under the act, and another 3,500 are considered candidates. The reason for these high numbers, Zerga said, is that the ESA provides no standards for determining what constitutes the “best” scientific data for the purposes of adding species to the list. He added that the act contains no provisions for economic or social impact to be considered in the listing process. There are also no accountability measures, and the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service (the agencies responsible for implementing the act) are not required to submit their listing decisions to other biologists for review.

Independence Mining reports spending almost US$20 million on a project for restoring the Lahontan cutthroat trout, a threatened species that lives throughout streams in the Independence Mountain Range in Nevada. “There are dozens of success stories about gold-mining companies that have taken extraordinary steps to protect various habitats,” Zerga said. “These companies have shown that gold mining and wildlife protection can co-exist.” At Independence’s Jerritt Canyon gold mine in Nevada, the company is funding a study to determine the effects of mining activities on northern goshawk populations near the mine.