Published: March 22, 2017 |

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Environmental groups and representatives of the fishing industry Monday supported a measure they say will protect Montana’s streams and rivers from potential pollution from hard-rock mining, but mining industry representatives say the law is unnecessary.

Rep. Nate McConnell, D-Missoula, presented House Bill 593 to the House Natural Resource Committee. The bill would require independent audits of working mines every three years. It would also require reclamation bonds for mines on an ore body with sulfide mineralization to be 150 percent of their normal rate. Supporters of the bill said mines in sulfide ore bodies pose the greatest risk for acid mine drainage.

McConnell said the bill isn’t about harming the mining industry but about ensuring mines can be cleaned up after they close. He said the state’s current reclamation bond process has failed to cover the costs of cleaning up several mine sites, meaning that taxpayers cover cleanup costs rather than mining companies.

“We need to protect water sources, we need to protect the people who live there and we need to protect our state,” McConnell said.

Debate on the bill was underscored by Tintina Resources’ proposal to build a copper mine near a stream that feeds the famed Smith River north of White Sulphur Springs. Called the Black Butte Copper Project, the mine has not yet been permitted, but it has been the source of contentious public debate. The company says the project won’t harm the environment, but environmental groups don’t buy it.

Leslie Pearce-Hopper, a landowner on the Smith River, said that while the bill won’t necessarily affect whether the mine is built, she said the idea of having an increased bond and requiring regular independent audits would give her and her family “greater peace of mind.”

“This common sense bill would ensure that mine companies are held responsible,” Pearce-Hopper said.

Montana Trout Unlimited, American Rivers and a handful of other conservation groups also backed the bill, as did representatives of Simms Fishing Products and Yellow Dog Fly Fishing Adventures.

On the other side, representatives of mining companies and industry groups opposed the bill, saying the state already has strict auditing requirements for mines and that the higher bond rate proposed in the bill is an arbitrary number.

John Beaudry, of Stillwater Mining Company, said the bill would “create another layer on top of an already thorough bonding process and add an arbitrary bonding cost.”

He also said sulfide mineralization doesn’t automatically cause acid mine drainage — the risk comes in how mine waste is handled. Stillwater has mined in such an ore body for decades, he said, and they haven’t had a problem.

“It’s well documented over 30 years that sulfide mineralization does not necessarily cause acid rock mine drainage,” Beaudry said.

The committee did not vote on the bill Monday.

Source: (March 21, 2017) Bozeman Daily Chronicle

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