Dear HCN,
The tentative agreement
that would forever end the prospect of mining gold adjacent to
Yellowstone National Park will turn out to be a good deal for the
West and the nation.
Details of the agreement,
which includes a $22.5 million company cleanup at the site and
swapping $65 million in federal assets for the gold reserves, have
not been finalized, but there are people who criticize the deal
(HCN, 9/30/96). They fear that the federal swap of assets means
transferring an environmental hazard from the Yellowstone area to
another part of the country.
We at the Greater
Yellowstone Coalition participated in some of the talks that led to
the deal. We will not approve of any asset swap that causes
environmental problems elsewhere. I suggest that people concerned
about this trade withhold criticism until we know all the details
and what properties are recommended for trade. Only then can we
have a knowledgeable discussion of its
merits.
Mike Clark
Bozeman,
Montana
The writer is
executive director of the Greater Yellowstone
Coalition.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Don’t worry yet.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
