Gold mines in Northwest pollute West's most precious resource

Two Canadian owned gold mines in the Northwest have just been fined for water quality violations (details and links below). The judge wrote: "Water is the West's most precious resource." Why is this important here in Southwest Oregon? Water may be our most precious resource but the mining of hardrock minerals is treated as the highest and best use of our public lands under the 1872 Mining Law and the House just passed legislation that would further strengthen the antiquated law and further restrict citizen involvement in mine approvals. See Earthworks on community groups opposed to H.R. 4402.

The pure waters of Southwest Oregon's rivers are more precious than the any metal that can be mined here but that doesn't matter under the 1872 Mining Law. Watch Thomas Dunklin's beautiful video of chinook salmon in the clear waters of the Wild and Scenic Chetco River.

Some of the best water quality in the West is found in Southwest Oregon rivers, which are increasingly under threat from mining.There are now three mines proposed in the Illinois River Valley, a botanical hotspot of the Klamath-Siskiyou Region. These new examples of water quality violations are lessons for what we could face here and the importance of citizen involvement.


The New York Times reports that a federal judge just fined a Canadian mining company at least $2 million for repeated violation of the Clean Water Act that have polluted a tributary of the Boise River.
Read more about thousands of violations and the citizens lawsuit that required the Canadian company to take responsibility for the pollution at the Idaho Conservation League Blog. The judge wrote:

Water is the West's most precious resource. Keeping Idaho's waters sufficiently clear of toxic elements so that they can support all the beneficial uses for which the State has designated them is a critical public interest that profoundly outweighs a company's bottom line.

The Okanogan Highlands Alliance also announced that the Washington Department of Ecology fined the Buckhorn Mine $395,000 for water quality violations. The mine is operated by Crown Resources Corporation, a fully owned subsidiary of Kinross Gold, another Canadian Corporation.  It's a modern mining operation but according to OHA has leaked contaminants since it began operations. Read more about the Buckhorn Mine's water quality violations.