Updated May 14, 2008
In
the ’80s, activist David Kliegman was worried about logging
companies over-cutting the forests on Buckhorn Mountain, the high
point of the picturesque Okanogan Highlands in north-central
Washington state. Then he learned that a mining company just might
“take the mountain right out from under the trees.”
That was back in 1990, when Battle Mountain Gold Company
proposed a large-scale, open-pit mine at the summit of Buckhorn,
using cyanide leaching to process the gold. According to the
grassroots group Okanogan Highlands Alliance, which Kliegman helped
found, the proposed mine “would have blasted the top off
Buckhorn Mountain, dug 450 feet into the aquifer that feeds five
creeks and dumped tailings obliterating a creek for a pickup load
of gold.” At today’s prices (about $900 an ounce), that
pickup load is worth nearly $1 billion.
Now, after 18
years, three different mining companies, two dozen lawsuits, and
scores of permits and appeals, an out-of-court settlement has
finally been reached. Ontario-based Crown Resources/Kinross can
complete its mine – but it will be much smaller than the
yawning pit that enviros originally feared.
The Okanogan
Highlands Alliance and its allies, which include the Center for
Environmental Law & Policy, the Washington Environmental
Council and the Colville Indian Alliance, would have preferred no
mine at all. But “we thought it would go through no matter
what,” says Kliegman. The settlement, which mitigates damage
to water and soil in the area, “gave us more than we would
have gotten by winning in court.”
The April 17
agreement mandates third-party testing of soil and water;
maintaining natural water levels for headwater creeks on Buckhorn
Mountain; and post-mining replacement of irrigation water. Crown
Resources/Kinross has agreed to create a perpetual conservation
easement open for public recreation after the mine closes in seven
to10 years. About 100 people are working to construct the mine, and
some 170 will be hired to run it, with an annual payroll of up to
$12 million.
Almost 90 percent of the facility has
already been built. The Okanogan Highlands Alliance appealed when
the state granted water permits in 2007, but Crown pressed forward
with construction, confident of eventual success. A lawsuit led by
the Alliance in 2000 defeated the open-pit proposal, however, and
the mine’s new footprint will be much smaller. When
it’s completed later this year, three shafts will bore into
the mountain, surrounded by settling ponds and other buildings.
The major downside for the local community may be the
truck traffic that will be generated. Crown/Kinross intends to
transport up to 1500 tons of ore daily to Echo Bay, 50 miles away,
for processing –some 50 roundtrips per day. Rural Okanogan
County has a population of less than 40,000, says Kliegman, but
“it’s an issue for people who live along the travel
corridor.”
The long battle over the mine has
divided the small community, with environmentalists and the
Colville Tribal Council on one side, and business-boosters and
would-be mine workers on the other. “I’m hoping that
now we can move forward with less polarity in the community,”
says Kliegman. “It’s viewed as a win-win situation by
just about everybody.” That includes the mining company, says
Lauren Roberts, vice president of Crown Resources Corporation:
“As the hearing date approached, both parties were looking
for a better way, and I think we’ve come to a fruitful
conclusion.”
The author is is the Online
Editor for High Country News.
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