Hardrock Mining Reform

Montana has a long history of hardrock mining, and a huge legacy of pollution associated with the practice. The industry that mines metals and minerals - such as gold, silver and copper - produces significantly more toxic waste than any other industry in the country, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s latest annual Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). This poses serious threats to human health and the integrity of Montana’s air, land and water resources.

According to the TRI, 1.1 billion pounds of toxics were released nationally by hardrock mines in 2004, a staggering 43.9 million pounds were released in Montana alone. Despite the large amounts of toxic releases reported, these numbers do not even represent the full amount of toxic pollution released into the environment by metals mining. The industry has found enough success with legal challenges and lobbying to legalize the low-ball accounting of toxics they release. Actual toxic releases may be up to two times as great as those recorded by the EPA’s inventory.

Toxic releases from mine sites can have serious impacts on water quality. Mine waste dumps, including thos e containing the toxics reported by the mining industry, too often leach heavy metals and metalloids, like arsenic and lead, into ground and surface water. As a result, sections of 40% of watersheds in the western U.S. are contaminated by mine waste, according to EPA. To add insult to injury, the burden of pol luted waterways has too often fallen on Montana taxpayers , neighboring property owners, and others who rely on clean water. For a good visual depicting Montana’s Abandoned Hardrock Mines and Waters Polluted by Metals point to: http:// www.earthworksaction.org/ pubs/MT_AML_303d.pdf.

Background

Recent years have seen incremental improvements in Montana’s mining policy, such as the successful 1998 initiative to phase out open pit, cyanide-leach mining across the state. The resulting law was unsuccessfully challenged by the mining industry in 2004 and will stay on the books for the benefit of Montanans.

Another victory occurred during the 2005 legislature when lawmakers significantly shrunk a loophole that has allowed small hard rock mines to avoid bonding and reclamation requirements for decades. Montana’s Small Miner Responsibility Act now requires small mining operations of less than 5 acres to post a bond and reclamation plan for waste impoundments to prevent damages to water quality. Small mines can generate tens of thousands of tons of mine waste, and pose significant threats to water resources. These mines, which are currently exempt from the Metal Mine Reclamation Act, are not permitted, require no bonding and have no obligation to reclaim.

The bill proved a much-needed improvement over existing law, and the bonds created will ensure that in the event that one of these small mines goes bankrupt or becomes financially insolvent taxpayers will not be left footing the clean-up bill.

Another successful piece of legislation created a fund to pay for the costs of perpetual water treatment at the Zortman and Landusky mine sites near the Fort Belknap Reservation. The defunct cyanide heap-leach open pit gold mines, operated in the area by the now bankrupt Pegasus Gold Corp., will require perpetual water treatment, and current funding for the water treatment plant was set to expire in the next few years. HB 379 established a fund, financed with money from federal lease and royalty funds and other sources, to pay for perpetual water treatment.

Recommendations for the Future

• Support a requirement that new mines permitted by DEQ would have to submit cash, letters of credit or the like to cover reclamation bonds. The intent is to provide greater certainty to the state in its ability to recover funds needed for reclamation from companies that default on their reclamation requirements.

• Support efforts to prohibit wastewater discharge in perpetuity and instead require mine operators to show they will not create permanent sources of pollution to state waters. This may happen through rulemaking with the Montana Board of Environmental Review, a state body that is currently considering a new rule that tells the mining industry: “it’s time for you to change.” The rule will prohibit the State from issuing a new mining permit unless the mining company demonstrates, up front, that no water pollution will occur after the mine is reclaimed.