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Replies to: Company kills plans for gold mine

God Bless the brave people of the Okanagan! Ten years of terror, sweat, and desperation to save your lands and the health of your children from a couple of mining desperados, armed with cyanide. Senator Gorton LOST the election because of this issue. Farmers and enviornmentalists united to stop this mine.

Hope all those local residents get equally high paying jobs ranching and escorting all those thousands of high tipping eco-tourists around that scenic Washington state countryside. Especially with Clinton having made millions of more public land acres available in the West for eco-tourism only!
Good luck!

This story brought tears of joy to my eyes. Finally, after being threatened by the development of a cyanide leach open pit gold mine on the top of my aquifer for over ten years, I celebrate that true scientific common sense has prevailed. I can believe in our democracy because the local citizens worked within the system as individuals and organized groups to make the mining industry respect the environmental laws of our country. Everyone should have the right to clean air to breathe and pure water to drink. The true cost of creating the mine could never be covered by the money from the gold that will line the pockets of a few. The lesson learned here: Pure water is more precious than gold! Better to kill the plan than kill the watershed. Value all life and give thanks!

The defeat of Battle Mountain Gold is some of the most inspiring news I have ever heard. I visited Buckhorn Mountain and the surrounding Okanogan Highlands more than five years ago and was deeply moved by the beauty of the land. The gold mine would have been a travesty to land and the people who live there. Pure water is much more precious than gold these days!

Best of luck to Crown Resources and their plans for an alternative to mining the Crown Jewel! Most people are not aware of the extent to which mining companies go to protect and improve the environment and at the same time providing job opportunities and creating wealth for our society.

Your characterization is unfair to former Senator Gorton. The Clinton administration didn't simply "deny the operating permit"--political appointees revoked a permit already issued by career officials of both the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management that had been upheld by a federal district court, on novel grounds invented by the Clinton Administration appointees (I say invented because this was the first time the "millsite ratio" issue had ever been applied to any plan of operations in the history of the Forest Service and BLM), at the direct, ex parte (off the record) urging of environmental groups. That's why Gorton and others were outraged enough to risk popular backlash by using a rider to restore the outcome determined by career agency officials under normal, prescribed permitting processes.

Newmont didn't kill the mine, the radical enironmentalists and self-serving politicians did. Another example of rural and productive asset cleansing. Jim Davis

Living at a former mine, Holden Village, it was a shock to believe that Crown Jewel thought they could leave behind another waste dump. It is refreshing to know that money and politics don’t always win. Common sense and hard work can stop the long term trashing of our natural resources for short term profits and short term jobs. This is a good news story. Scott Borges Olson

lets open it up and mine the heck out of it!

Mining, like any other natural resource extraction activity needs to be protected from the unfounded, mean-spirited accusations of extreme environmentalists who only want to say no. These extremist should pay the full costs for causing projects to collapse in the state's economically depressed counties. Streamline the permitting process so that the mining companies only deal with the public representatives from the appointed agencies. Limit public involvement to those who have a direct or adjacent property interest. Exclude public participation for those who are only indirectly impacted in a minor way.

The lead story in the Wednesday, July 25, 2001 edition of The Spokesman-Review stated: "The mine would have removed part of Buckhorn Mountain to extract 1.4 million ounces of gold -- roughly a pickup load -- over its eight-year life." I did the math, and I WISH my pickup (a 1-ton) could carry a load like that. The way I figure it,
1.4 million ounces = 1,400,000 ounces
1,400,000 ounces * 1/16 pounds/ounce = 87500 pounds
87500 pounds * 1/2000 tons/pound = 43.75 tons
Now, it turns out that I can probably carry a little more than 10,000 pounds in my pickup (without exceeding the manufacturer's ratings). So that would mean "roughly a pickup load a year" over eight years. (Did that minor clarification get dropped?)

It is most unfortunate that Crown Jewel gold project owners (July 25, 2001, "Company kills plans for gold mine") have killed this valuable project to benefit all Washingtonians. It is true that mines produce wastes but what better place to manage wastes and mitigate effects than under the watchful eyes of Washington State, Forest Service, BLM, and EPA. No other place has such stringent yet progressive laws to find common solutions to produce and protect all natural resources.
A country that runs on natural resources risks much if it chooses to rely on foreign sources. Witness the Persian Gulf War.
The Crown Jewel mine, or copper, silver or any mine is needed to ensure modern houses, reliable transportation, benefits of today's communications wonders, and good jobs for our children. The raw materials leading to products we cherish must be won from the earth before they appear in auto showrooms or hardware stores. We must be commonly responsible for the costs of products we demand.
If the Crown Jewel project fails, we all lose. We lose 150 jobs and economic incentives needed to catapult Okanogan County into the 21st century. We forego spendings to equip the mine. We forego the taxes paid by employees and company that you and I must replace. Still, the demand for metals escalates so we lose twice when metal purchases pay salaries, taxes, and profits to foreigners instead. We lose thrice if Washingtonians discourage industry, risk-takers, or those willing to inject ideas on its behalf.
David Boleneus
geologist

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