Alternative One

The Kootenai National Forest and the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness offer a host of opportunities for current and future generations to enjoy the natural outdoor environment in relative peace and privacy.  However, the Montanore mine project, should it ever be permitted, would irrevocably change the ways in which visitors could enjoy these areas.           

Compromised Recreational Opportunities

The agencies’ acceptance of the Montanore proposal would allow the dewatering and pollution of virtually every natural waterway in or near the mining operation, including pristine alpine lakes located in the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness. 

While this in itself is completely unacceptable in terms of environmental degradation, it also poses a critical threat to recreational fishing in the affected area.  The disappearance of the majority of native trout is clearly a possible outcome of the mine’s consumption and pollution of natural water resources, which would effectively eliminate any opportunity for recreational fishing in virtually every stream in the Libby Creek watershed.

Because fresh water is the basis of a healthy ecosystem, Montanore’s “dewatering” of the KNF would affect every other component of life in the area, reducing wildlife populations that have traditionally supplied hunters with recreational enjoyment, reducing recreational outlets for photographers, and rendering many area trails closed to hikers, skiers and snowmobilers. 

Indigenous peoples who frequent traditional hunting and fishing grounds in the Libby Creek region would be deprived of their rights to enjoyment of these activities due to depleted fish and wildlife populations.

Visual and Auditory Concerns

While the SDEIS pays lip service to the expected recreational degradation that would result from the current incarnation of the Montanore proposal, it treats this important issue cavalierly.

We oppose MMC's proposed  construction of scenic overlooks and placement of interpretive signage in the Kootenai National Forest.  It is a naturally beautiful landscape that would be marred with any such commercialization, either at MMC’s proposed Midas Creek location or anywhere else within the forest. 

We are similarly concerned with the currently preferred high-voltage transmission line corridor Alternative C-R and how it will degrade recreational enjoyment of the popular Howard Lake Campground with stark views of denuded forest and ugly power lines and towers.  There is no such thing as an attractive power line tower, no matter if it is made of metal or wood.  Buried power lines along the West Fisher route would not pose this visual impairment, and is a much safer plan in terms of forest fire danger. 

While the SDEIS pays lip service to the expected recreational degradation that would result from the current incarnation of the Montanore proposal, it treats this important issue cavalierly:

The recreational experience of some users may be irretrievably affected by the project, due to loss of access to particular areas, increased noise, or visual impacts.  These effects, combined with increased knowledge of and access to the general analysis area, would likely displace some dispersed recreation (hunting, hiking, and dispersed camping) to other areas of the forest.  Long-term road closures within the tailings impoundment and other areas for grizzly bear mitigation in all action alternatives would result in an irretrievable loss of recreational access.  The long-term effect of ROS [recreational opportunity spectrum] characteristics at the tailings impoundment site would be irreversible. (p. 362)

Upon wading through the double-speak above, which is a persistent communication disconnect characteristic of this fatally flawed document – and we believe an attempt to discourage anyone who tries to read through it -- we glean that MMC is addressing critical loss of KNF recreational enjoyment issues with a flippant “go elsewhere” attitude.  We would like to point out that there is only one Howard Lake in the Kootenai National Forest, and only one developed campground in the entire area.  The agencies must not permit a for-profit corporation to commandeer and degrade this area, destroying public recreational enjoyment opportunities.

Similarly, the imposing view of a 360-foot-high, two-mile-long tailings dam beside Libby Creek Road is not an acceptable scenario.  Backfilling as much of the mine debris as possible would reduce this proposed eyesore as well as destroy a smaller area of wetlands.  The proposed tailings impoundment would irrevocably change the beauty of this natural area and should be either eliminated from the plan by moving the milling operation onto private land outside the KNF or by minimizing it with backfilling at the mine void.

On page 360 of the SDEIS, recreational degradation wrought by above-ground power line installation is described as a “changes from less developed to more developed recreational settings” that would “likely displace some recreationists seeking more remote and dispersed recreation experiences.”  These so-called displacements “would extend about 20 years beyond the time when the transmission line was decommissioned.”  So, adding 20 years of mining operations and 20 years of clean-up, this plan would reduce Americans’ enjoyment of much of the KNF for 40 or more years.  That constitutes an entire generation.  We believe that is far too long to deprive the public of its right to enjoy public lands.

The SDEIS ignores traditional tribal uses of sacred lands and resources that would also be deflected for at least 40 years along the 16-mile long power line corridor and adjacent acreage.  Like Howard Lake, areas that constitute sacred ancestral lands are unique, and this issue cannot be dismissed with a cavalier “go elsewhere.”  The fact is that indigenous people, lifelong recreationalists, and area residents have claims to these areas that precede the appearance of a fly-by-night investment firm, and we assert that the permitting agencies must respect these prior claims in their decisions.

MMC is addressing critical loss of KNF recreational enjoyment issues with a flippant “go elsewhere” attitude.

According to the SDEIS on page 363,

The noise and visual effects of the proposed project would be most noticeable during the 16 to 19 years of operations.  Noise would return to pre-mine levels when reclamation activities ceased, while visual effects would be reduced over time as revegetation efforts were completed and the forest cover re-established in disturbed areas.  Over the long term, the proposed project would not affect the ability of the analysis area to provide a variety of forest recreation opportunities.

Once again, the document attempts to minimalize the fact that the Montanore proposal, if ever permitted, would invade visitors’ right to peaceful recreational amid the natural beauty of federally protected lands.  Noise pollution would become a part of the landscape for the duration of operations.  Visual pollution would outlast an entire generation of recreationalists.  “Over the long term” means what, exactly?  After 40 years, 100 years, or after the 1,000-plus years it will take for the natural water system to partially recover to pre-mine levels?

Additionally,

Blasting during construction of the Rock Lake ventilation adit would result in short-term disturbances to wildlife in the [Cabinet Mountains Wilderness]. Additional temporary disturbances to wildlife in the CMW would occur for Alternatives 3 and 4 from blasting during construction of the upper Libby Adit…These impacts would be short term and would not impact the natural integrity of the CMW over the long term. (p. 416)

The vagueness of this statement is unacceptable.  If a professional document expects to use phrases such as “short term” and “long term,” is needs to quantify what each of these phrases mean in terms of time. In addition, the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness is protected from degradation from mining operations by federal law, and noise pollution as described above would harm the CMW ecosystem.

We believe that the only alternative to such invasive visual and noise pollution not only in the KNF but in the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness is Alternative One – no mine, no transmission line.

Cabinet Mountain Wilderness Recreation Issues

With its characteristic laissez-faire treatment of critical environmental and recreational issues, the SDEIS states,

Apparent naturalness within the CMW would not be substantially affected by the proposed mine disturbances outside the wilderness boundary…None of the proposed mine facilities would affect opportunities for primitive recreation within the CMW.  Any trails or access routes that are directly affected by mine facilities would be replaced with new routes and would not affect access to the wilderness…While increased use may diminish primitive recreation opportunities in some areas (particularly near the wilderness boundary), it would not substantially affect the ability of some visitors to find high-quality opportunities for primitive recreation within the wilderness.

Like Howard Lake, specific trails and camping spots that individuals favor in the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness are unique and hikers will not necessarily find comparable places to go.  Statements like “substantially affected” are value judgments that do not accurately reflect the views of those Americans who enjoy spending time in this federally-protected wilderness.  We believe that the Montanore project, from start to finish, would certainly have a substantially negative effect on the integrity of the CMW, and that the SDEIS does not give sufficient attention to measures that would avoid or minimize this effect.

We assert that this is a grave omission in the overall Montanore Environmental Impact Statement series of documents, and that the agencies must direct MMC to invest further study to produce a plan that respects public property and avoids degrading, both physically, visually and audibly, this pristine wilderness region.

Read About the Cumulative Environmental Effects of Two Mines Operating Simultaneously

Read About the Disastrous Tailings Impoundment Plan