Rock Creek Mine stopped again
U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy rejected the U.S. Forest Service’s approval of the proposed Rock Creek Mine in an order released Monday, just days before Revett Minerals planned to issue its 20-day notice to begin construction.
“The Forest Service’s decision to approve the Rock Creek Mine project is vacated,” Molloy’s order read, “and the 2003 Record of Decision and 2001 Final Environmental Impact Statement are set aside and remanded to the Forest Service for further action consistent with the court’s forthcoming opinion.”
Molloy dismissed or denied some of conservation groups’ claims concerning the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act, but upheld others, such as their claim that the Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the Organic Act.
“We’re as anxious as anybody else to see why he ruled in certain aspects and why he ruled in others,” said Jim Costella of Rock Creek Alliance, one of the dozen groups blocking the development of Rock Creek Mine.
The claim concerning the Clean Water Act was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. Costello hopes for clarity when Molloy releases his opinion explaining the reasoning behind his order.
“We’re unsure if it’s a jurisdiction issue if it belongs in state court,” Costello said. “We are unsure ourselves where the clean water issue is going to next.”
John Shanahan, Revett’s chief executive officer, was disappointed in the ruling concerning the Forest Service, but content with some of the other issues.
“It’s a setback, but it’s not fatal,” Shanahan said. “I think we’ll get there eventually. It’s a process – it just takes time.”
He added, “The real test here is, what does he require the Forest Service to do? He may ask the Forest Service to do something relatively minor or he may ask them to do something major that may take a year or more to do.”
The Forest Service awaits Molloy’s opinion before passing judgment.
“Until we see that opinion,” Kootenai National Forest Supervisor Paul Bradford said, “we really don’t have a good indication of what we need to do next.”
The Forest Service could appeal Molloy’s decision once the judge releases his opinion.
“There are options, but I’m not going to speculate” on the Forest Service’s next move, Bradford said.
The proposed underground silver and copper mine would lie on private land and 148 acres of Forest Service land in the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness area near Noxon.
Conservation groups filed two separate suits in 2005 that were later combined that challenged the Forest Services’ approval of Revett’s plan of operations and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s biological opinion concerning grizzly bears and bull trout. Revett is an intervenor in the case.
“The process has been going on for a very long time,” Costello said, “so we’re going to enjoy the moment, but we’re fully aware that it will continue.”
Shanahan said that Rock Creek can become an environmentally responsible mining operation just like Revett’s Troy Mine.
“It’s been an extensive and exhaustive study on the Rock Creek Mine using the best available science,” Shanahan said. “This can be developed environmentally correctly and we have every intention of showing that.”