Local delegation to travel to Washington, D.C. in support of Montanore mine

Community representatives from Lincoln County will travel to Washington, D.C. July 25 to ask state and federal government to approve the evaluation phase of Hecla Mining Company’s Montanore mine.

Representatives include County Commissioner Jerry Bennett, Libby Schools Superintendent Craig Barringer, Tina Oliphant of Lincoln County Port Authority and Kootenai River Development Council, Morrison Elementary Principal Diane Rewerts and Libby logger and environmentalist Bruce Vincent.

The Montanore mine proposition was overturned May 31 by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula, although the Forest Service and Fish, Wildlife and Parks had approved the mine for the proposal.

Vincent said he aims to ask officials to break the proposed mining project into phases, which he says will provide data to give a clearer picture for both locals and Hecla.

“We are not asking for the entire mine to be approved at this stage,” Vincent said. “But if they can do the preliminary digging, testing water at every stage, we will have more information, and so will the agencies. It’s better for Hecla too, to know more about the quality of the ore before embarking on the whole project.”

“There seems to be very little environmental impact indicated at the evaluation stage,” said Hecla Vice President Of External Affairs Luke Russell, adding that the company appreciated the community effort in going to the nation’s capital.

“When Molloy ruled on Montanore, he sent the plan back to the agencies and said that there were areas that needed to be worked on regarding grizzly bear habitat and bull trout habitat in the future,” Vincent said. “What we want to do is make sure that those problems are addressed in months, not years.”

Citing the Rock Creek mine case in Sanders County in 2010 as an example, Vincent said that what was originally expected to be a year-long process to approve the mine has turned into a seven-year process, the outcome of which is still unknown.

“We want to ask for the agencies involved to have the personnel to be able to address the issues Malloy highlighted in a timely way,” Vincent said. “We know there are only eight hours in a workday, and that budgets are tight, but we want to help them find solutions to make sure they have people to do the work.”

Bennett said his priority for the trip is “to get a firsthand view of where our administration is headed with respect to natural resource development like mining and timber and to share my perspective of having grown up here in Lincoln County.”

Barringer said he’s going because “Hecla has had a positive impact on our schools already, putting funds into our vocational programs and updating equipment. They are really wanting to be a part of the community and I’m going to D.C. to say that the sooner they can invest in our community, the better.”