Volume 15, Number 3
Fall 2003

The U.S. Forest Service has reissued its Record of Decision (ROD) permitting the proposed Rock Creek mine slated to be developed in the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness. The ROD, released on June 27, 2003, incorporates the findings of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (USFWS) new Biological Opinion, released earlier this spring. Forest Service approval of the mine has been anticipated since the new Biological Opinion (BO) was issued.

The proposed Rock Creek Mine will be a major industrial facility ­ including the mine itself, a railroad station, pipelines, a power line, a tailings treatment plant and associated infrastructure ­ operating 24 hours a day for an estimated 35 years in the midst of what is now among the last available wilderness habitats for the severely imperiled Cabinet Mountains grizzly bear and bull trout. Biologists estimate that there may be as few as 11 grizzly bears remaining in the Cabinet Mountains. The Rock Creek drainage, where the mine would be located, constitutes crucial habitat for the threatened bull trout.

Sterling Mining Co's. proposed Rock Creek Mine would tunnel beneath this lake in the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness. To remove the ore, huge "rooms" would be excavated with only rock columns left behind to support the weight of the overlying mountians. The Wilderness lands and lakes above would be put at risk of draining and collapsing into the underground mine.

Last spring, AWR and several co-plaintiffs won the first round in the legal battle against the mine when the USFWS was forced to withdraw its original Biological Opinion in response to litigation. Withdrawal of the BO also forced the Forest Service to withdraw its original ROD. Not surprisingly, the conclusions in the new BO and ROD are still not supported by fact or sound science. The proposal was illegal before and still violates numerous laws.

An amended complaint has been filed by Earth Justice in federal court challenging the new BO on behalf of AWR and the other plaintiffs on the original suit.

The revised BO along with the ROD, still fails to ensure the viability and recovery of grizzly bear, bull trout, and lynx inhabiting the project area. Among other flaws, the proposed mitigation for the anticipated destruction of 7000 acres of grizzly bear habitat is inadequate.

The Forest Service ackknowledges that the Rock Creek bull trout population will be destroyed by the mine. Bull trout in the river and downstream in Lake Pend Oreille will also be adversely impacted by toxic waste that will be dumped on a daily basis.

If built, the Rock Creek mine would discharge up to 3 million gallons of mine wastewater per day into the Clark Fork River. This discharge would contain nutrient pollution (nitrogen and phosphorus), and heavy metals toxic to aquatic life including cadmium, mercury, zinc, copper, arsenic, manganese, aluminum, and lead. Further pollution would result from perpetual discharges from the mine workings and from an impoundment that would be unlined and located next to the Clark Fork River. The impoundment would eventually contain 100 million tons of waste rock, covering 340 acres and reaching 300 feet high.

An administrative appeal of the new ROD will be filed by mid-August. The appeal will challenge the decision based on the many flaws in the ROD and EIS, including the Forest Service's failure to sufficiently assess all impacts; to consider all viable alternatives; to minimize adverse impacts; to ensure reclamation of the immense damage that will be caused by the mine; to protect threatened and sensitive species; and to ensure compliance with the Forest Plan, the Wilderness Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act, and other laws.