Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Mining topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
House candidates diverge on proposed Blackfoot and Crown Butte mines, urge EIS process
Summary
In a Missoula candidate forum, Democrat Leo Yudetz and Republican Alan Mickelson discussed the proposed Blackfoot (Lincoln) and Crown Butte (Cooke City) mining projects and the need for environmental review; Yudetz opposed the Cooke City mine outright while Mickelson urged waiting for environmental impact statements.
Leo Yudetz, Yellowstone County auditor and Democratic candidate for the U.S. House, and Alan Mickelson, a rancher and Republican candidate, discussed proposed hard-rock mines near the Blackfoot River and Cooke City during a Missoula Community Access Television candidate forum.
Yudetz said he opposed the Cooke City project, the Crown Butte mine, because of the risk to rivers and drinking water downstream, saying, "I think it's too much of a threat to our environment." He also referenced concerns about an open-pit gold mine near Lincoln on the Blackfoot River and noted that the Blackfoot had been identified as endangered in press coverage. Yudetz pointed to Montana's environment as "one of its number 1 assets."
Mickelson said he would withhold judgment until formal environmental reviews are complete and called for proceeding through the National Environmental Policy Act process. As he put it, "I would like to withhold any judgment on both of those lines until I do see the environmental impact statement... if they cannot, conduct those mine that, mining in a in a safe and sane manner, then, I am not going to support it." He emphasized relying on the EIS process rather than pre-emptive opposition.
Both candidates referenced the broader federal law governing mining claims. Yudetz criticized the 1872 Mining Act as in need of overhaul, noting that it allowed mineral claims to be purchased for a very low price; a figure discussed on the program was "$5 an acre" as an historical example of the Act's terms. Mickelson said mining interests have proposed amendments and that both environmental groups and industry have proposed competing bills in Congress without decisive action.
The candidates also discussed royalties and school trust lands in the program introduction: the host noted an Associated Press report and an Attorney General review of Board of Regents land deals and cited a company claim that proposed peat-mining royalties could total "$55,000,000" for Montana Tech over the life of a mine. The candidates did not propose a specific federal legislative remedy during the broadcast.
No formal action or binding direction resulted from the forum; both candidates said they would defer to environmental review processes. The EISs for the Crown Butte and Lincoln-area proposals were described on-air as the pending procedural step before congressional consideration or public judgment.
Background: the candidates referenced the 1872 Mining Act and the environmental review (EIS) process as the relevant authorities and said any final decisions should follow the EIS findings.
