The hazard of putting jobs ahead of all else

Letter to the Editor,

What’s wrong with this picture?

I do not understand what is going on with the Lincoln County commissioners. They keep doing the same things over and over again, hoping for a different outcome.

When you say anything to them about their own mistakes, they either tell you some line of bull you know to be a lie or it’s just a stall to get you out of there in hopes that you will cool down and go away.

This has been their way of dealing with poor decision-making and poor choices in their leadership of the county. Blame for the pollution and contamination of our air and our water goes unanswered, and when confronted with the truth their reasoning to continue in this fashion is jobs.

This is the most pathetic excuse anyone could ever come up with. I am sure that the county commissioner at the time when Grace wanted to open its mine was very glad, especially with logging running full-tilt at the time and with five log mills in Lincoln County alone, everyone thought the good times would never end and then the dam went in and everyone thought: Cheap power for everyone.

But nothing was further from the truth.

I am sure the fish and game approved the Grace mine to go in believing it wouldn’t hurt anything, just like clear cutting the forest wouldn’t hurt anything.

There are those that think we should mine and log everything we can just so there are enough jobs. It is sad to see a whole town being put into such a tight situation as to be reduced to destroying the beautiful, clean environment where we live just to create a few part-time, temporary jobs.

I’ve seen the signs in shop windows proclaiming “we support the timber industry”. I know I do. As an avid woodworker, I buy enough of it. Now I see signs saying we support the mining industry or we support Montanore, the new mine that is trying to go in.

We are just giving them the license to pollute the ground water and make everything in and around the mine toxic for years to come. But we need jobs. So who cares if we have water to drink or clean air to breathe? That doesn’t matter as long as we have jobs.

They are putting in this mine on public lands. Will we the public get anything from this besides a few jobs? No. Even most of the jobs will be given to outsiders because we don’t have the training and skills required for the jobs. Jobs are important above all else in the area. This seems to be the thinking of the county commissioners and others in the community.

Their lack of foresight is disturbing and concerning.

There have been ideas offered to them, but they refused to give it any thought. Is it because they are over-worked or is it because they are under-educated? Who knows how much loan money has been written off because the businesses failed? I am sure the amount was staggering even before the loss of Stinger.

I see on the news that other cities have public works projects to employ their citizens but Libby, Troy and Eureka will not do anything like that, instead they pave a road out in the middle of nowhere such as Wolf Creek. I thought it was for the detour, but now it seems more likely that it was done to move the logs out of Buck Creek Drainage to Kalispell faster and easier.

I have hunted up there since I moved here in 2001, and now it is being destroyed by logging. It provides jobs. They have gated the road where I used to go and sit early in the morning to wait for the sun to come up and for the elk to stir. Now it is blocked off and logged so no one can use it, except those that make big money from it. No one around here profits and no jobs for local folks come from it other than hauling logs to someone else. Then, this fall, they will light the slash pile on fire, which will burn for a month, smoldering during hunting season. Then you will be asked not to burn because the air is too bad, but it is OK for them to burn slash piles.

Can anyone in Libby see where I am going with this? Or am I the only one? If so, I would be happy to move the hell out of here.

Oh, but I can’t because someone opened a pit mine upwind of me and the silica dust pours down on my house and everyone else unfortunate enough to live downwind from the mine.

I guess it doesn’t really matter, at this rate I’ll be dead from silicosis (a lung disease that is as bad as or worse than asbestosis) soon enough. It is a clear health hazard and safety risk to anyone breathing in the dust from the mines and the trucks driving around town.

But our county commissioners don’t do anything about it. Instead, if you speak out, you’re labeled a troublemaker and they just dismiss you.

I intend to write as much as I can so everyone in Lincoln County can see what is happening here and to try to change the way we do business and  live in our natural setting.

Do I think logging should stop? No. Do I think mining should stop? No. But the way in which we go about it has to change. We can no longer afford to do the same things expecting a different result. The old ways of thinking will no longer work or apply. If we continue on the same path no one will be able to live here and there won’t be anything left for anyone, especially jobs.

Go to your county commissioner meetings. Ask questions. The only stupid question is the one that never gets asked.

— Don Lindholm