Clean Water and Mine Pollution

What will you do to ensure that mining does not destroy our water quality?
More than 12,000 miles of rivers in the United States suffer the consequences of mining pollution. Rivers of Montana have been some of the hardest hit. The Mike Horse Mine continues to release acid mine pollution into the headwaters of the Big Blackfoot River. Upstream of Missoula, the Clark Fork of the Columbia River hosts four Superfund sites, the legacy of past mining. Acid mine pollution is created in abandoned mines and in waste rock tailings. The resulting acid pollution must be contained so that it, and the toxic heavy metals it leaches out of rock, does not get into surface and groundwater, damaging water quality and harming wildlife.

Montana taxpayers are faced with paying significant reclamation costs of mining operations, some which have ceased, because state bonding requirements were insufficient to cover reclamation costs. Do you support or oppose increasing requirements for reclamation bonding?

Severe water pollution from hardrock mining is a major concern. More than 12,000 miles of rivers in the United States suffer the consequences of mining pollution. Rivers of Montana have been some of the hardest hit. The Mike Horse Mine continues to release acid mine pollution into the headwaters of the Big Blackfoot River. Upstream of Missoula, the Clark Fork of the Columbia River host four Superfund sites, the legacy of past mining. Acid mine pollution is created in abandoned mines and in waste rock tailings. The resulting acid pollution must be contained so that it, and the toxic heavy metals it leaches out of rock, does not get into surface and groundwater, damaging water quality and harming wildlife.

For more information contact www.meic.org or www.wildmontana.org

Forests

Would you favor or oppose protecting all National Forest roadless areas of 1,000 acres or more from development?
The Forest Service recently offered a proposal that would prohibit new roads in 43 million acres of roadless areas within the National Forests. This proposal includes nearly 5.8 million acres in Montana. While this is promising news, several major loopholes remain. The decision on providing protection for an additional 8.5 million acres in Alaska's Tongass National Forest would be deferred until 2004. Roadless areas under 5,000 acres would not be considered for protection until the Forest Plan for the National Forests in which they are located are revised (the typical cycle for Forest Plan revisions is 10-15 years). Logging, recreational development, grazing, off-road vehicle use and some types of mining would not be explicitly prohibited. It is critical that the Forest Service close these loopholes to protect our last remaining wild forests. National Forest lands without roads represent only about 2 percent of the total landbase of the United States, yet they provide clean drinking water, recreation and large open spaces that offer solitude and beauty. These areas often provide important habitat for rare plant and animal species, offer opportunities for monitoring and research, and help stop the spread of invasive species. In addition, the Forest Service would save taxpayers up to $565,000 per year in maintenance costs for new roads, which would not be built. With an $8.4 billion dollar backlog of road maintenance and reconstruction on the current 380,000-mile road system on National Forest lands, we should focus on the current roads rather than building costly new roads into roadless areas.

For more information contact www.wildmontana.org.

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