Letter: Time to step to plate to support Montanore

Dear Editor:

Montanore Mine Project’s public comment period closes May 28. It’s time for each of us to step up to the plate and take a few minutes to send a personal comment  to the Forest Service and the DEQ to let them know that this project is economically necessary for Lincoln County’s future.

Petitions and form letters don’t cut it. One single personal comment far outweighs a single petition that a hundred people sign.

Here is what we need to convey to the USFS and DEQ:

• The science of this project is sound.

• The project has been accepted once already by both the USFS and DEQ as originally proposed by Noranda Minerals Corp.

• The DEIS adequately addresses issues pertaining to the environment and this projects impact on it.

• The proposed mitigation is appropriate.

• The lengthy process to bring this DEIS to this comment milestone shows that the project meets the standards of the USFS and DEQ and has been scrutinized over and over in great detail to ensure that the project is environmentally sound and should be completely implemented in 2009.

• The socioeconomic benefits of this project to Lincoln County are enormous; both current and future.

We as citizens of Lincoln County need to ensure our voices are heard. We are the economically impacted by this DEIS not being signed, sealed and accepted as written.

If we allow this project to be stalled once again or stopped we have allowed others to shut off the lifeblood of our existence. If we don’t take the time to make comments and show support of the Montanore Project, those environmentalists that are opposed to any project in our area will have the last say – again. They don’t live or work here but yet they try to control our lives and the environment that we live, work and play in.

We can make our voices heard and ensure our future or we can bury our heads and let others make those decisions for us and we must live with those consequences.

Take the time to comment.

Steve Gunderson

Libby

(Editor’s Note: Written comments can be submitted to Bobbie Lacklen, Kootenai National Forest, 31374 U.S. Highway 2, Libby, MT 59923 or by e-mail to: r1_montanore@fs.fed.us or deqmontanoreEIS@mt.gov .