One of the hardest problems facing anyone who cares about environmental matters is keeping a sense of scale. The big battles are so wearing that it can be hard to concentrate on the small ones, and true disasters -- an Exxon Valdez, for instance -- set a precedent that seems to diminish the importance of more modest offenses. But the principles that govern the environmental movement are not scalable. They apply just as readily in limited cases of potential damage as they do in cases of wholesale negligence or criminal intent.
A good example is the East Boulder platinum mine now being developed by the Stillwater Mining Company in Montana's Absaroka Mountains. At first glance the project seems far less threatening than the infamous New World gold mine, which was blocked at an early stage in 1996. The New World mine was sited only a few miles from Yellowstone National Park, in seismically active terrain, and any runoff from the acidic wastes it generated would have drained into the Clark's Fork of the Yellowstone River, as well as the park itself.
Platinum, moreover, is arguably a more essential metal than gold, and the Stillwater Mining Company already operates a platinum mine -- the only one in the Western Hemisphere -- on the east side of the Absarokas. Most of the permits for the East Boulder mine are in place, exploratory drilling has begun, and the new mine is hiring. It is business as usual. But business as usual in Montana hardrock mining has left the state dotted with Superfund sites and dead streams, and the potential exists for a similar result at the East Boulder mine.
Every mine needs to dispose of water, usually water discovered during tunneling. The company's plan is to discharge the water directly into the East Boulder River, a pristine stream containing native cutthroat trout. The mine water is unusually high in manganese and iron, and under present state regulations governing groundwater contamination, it would have to be treated.
Unfortunately, Montana's Department of Environmental Quality is preparing to weaken those rules -- in effect giving the company a license to pollute while overriding other state laws that now give the river special protected status. The Environmental Quality Department has long been excessively sympathetic to industry's ambitions. It plans to do as little to protect Montana's environment in this case as it has done in others.
Local environmentalists are pressing the department to require treatment of the mine water before it is released into the river, along with extensive monitoring of the river. Unless this is done, the department should withhold any further permits and the mine should not proceed.
As always, what looms behind a mining story is the archaic but forceful 1872 Mining Law, which stipulates that mining is the highest and best use of land. The opposite has been proved in Montana many times over. At the East Boulder mine, the Stillwater Mining Company has an opportunity to take the lead in environmentally sound mining practices. It cannot do so if, in complicity with a mining-friendly agency, it begins by weakening standards designed to protect the environment.
