Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Mining at quarry near Clayton may resume

Public land sale designed to reopen mine


By STEVE BENSON
Express Staff Writer

Mining could resume on more than 500 acres of land near the East Fork of the Salmon River, if Rep. Richard Pombo, R-California, gets his way.

Pombo, chairman of the House Resources Committee, proposed markup legislation that would permit the sale of public land to mining companies for $1,000 an acre. He has attached the legislation to the Budget Reconciliation Bill, which is expected to go before the House of Representatives again this week. If passed, it could expose thousands of acres of public land, including National Forest and Bureau of Land Management land, to unchecked mining.

By purchasing the land, mining companies would not be subject to federal environmental review and reclamation of disturbed lands would no longer be required. Allowing mining companies to buy land on which they have staked claims was abolished in 1995.

The Three Rivers quarry, located in Custer County east of Clayton near the confluence of the East Fork of the Salmon River and the Salmon River, was shut down in May 2005 after U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled that it was in violation of federal law for expanding operations beyond its boundaries. For operations to resume, Judge Winmill ordered the BLM to draft a new Environmental Impact Statement.

Located 20 miles west of Challis, the quarry produces arguilite stone with gold, tan, beige and purple hues. Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, toured the site with Pombo's aides earlier this year.

But if Pombo's bill passes and the land is sold—to L&W Stone Corp., of California—an EIS will no longer be required and operations on the 520-acre-site may resume, according to Jon Marvel, executive director of Western Watersheds Project, which filed the lawsuit against the BLM.

Western Watersheds has an office in Hailey and owns the 432-acre Greenfire Wildlife Preserve adjacent to the Three Rivers quarry. Marvel feels part of Pombo's legislation is retribution for the lawsuit. He claims that it would be payback to L&W Stone's owner, Scott Laine, who according to the Associated Press has given nearly $3,000 to U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, President Bush and the National GOP Congressional Committee since 2002.

"It's a classic example of pork-barrel politics," Marvel told the Associated Press. "If a private corporation wishes to acquire public land for its own profit, then there should be a significant public process in which local people, and citizens across the nation, can play a part in any decision to sell public lands.

"This takes it out of the public realm altogether."

In October, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a political watchdog group, named Pombo one of the 13 most corrupt politicians in Congress.

Supporters of Pombo's $520,000 Three Rivers quarry deal, which includes Custer County commissioners, claim passage of the proposal will revitalize the financially struggling county. The quarry had employed 85 people in Custer County.

"The employment and revenue created by the company are beneficial to maintaining a stable economic base for Custer County," Custer County Commissioner Lin Hintze wrote in an Oct. 24 letter to Pombo. "We hope this land purchase will be made final."

The Budget Reconciliation Act passed the House Resource Committee 24-16 earlier this month, but still faces a vote in the full House before clearing the Senate. Budget reconciliation is a Congressional act designed to reduce spending and boost revenue in the U.S. Treasury. The last such bill passed in 1997.

Pombo had also included a provision in the bill that would open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. But last week, in the bill's first appearance before the House, more than 20 moderate Republicans said they would not vote on the bill unless that provision was removed.

Despite the potential for mining in the Three Rivers quarry, Rick Johnson, executive director of the Idaho Conservation League, is more concerned with the proposal's overall impact.

"The Idaho piece is a small fraction of a much bigger issue, and its got some things that would make anybody who cares about public lands pause," Johnson said, adding that he questions the seriousness of the bill.

"For some reason I think it just may be a shot over the bow and it won't happen," he said.

Johnson added that while attending the congressional hearing on the Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act in Washington, D.C., last month, he received drastically different reactions to Pombo's proposal.

"I heard two different things from Congress: 'Oh man, it's a slam dunk and untouchable because it's part of the Budget Reconciliation Act,'" Johnson said. "And then I heard the exact opposite, that it's 'So nutty, so weird, there's just no way it will pass.'

"I don't know which to believe ... and I don't pretend to understand."

While the bill is expected to go before the House this week, it has yet to be officially scheduled, according to a spokeswoman with the House Resources Committee.




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