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Re: Toxic cleanup must come before freight
Author: Hipshot
Date: 05-08-2009 - 10:38
Get Serious says, "Except in this case, taxpayers will be left with the environmental bill associated with the mining."
That's balderdash! Or, to quote General Schwarzkopf, “bovine scatology.” California's Surface Mining and Reclamation Act ("SMARA") requires every mine, old or new, to have a fully funded reclamation plan before it will receive a permit. Moreover, to make sure every reclamation plan is fully funded, the operator must post a bond as part of the permit application process.
Additionally, the permitting process employed in virtually every California county (including Trinity County) requires submission and review of a comprehensive operating plan that describes in detail the measures to be employed to assure the public there is no on-going pollution arising from the new operation. And while enforcement of these provisions has been, in some instances, problematic at existing mines, the Island Mountain Quarry use permit expired years ago and a wholly new application and review will be required before any operation begins at that location. At last reading, the operator that recently tried to obtain a use permit from Trinity County for Island Mountain (and upon which the NCRA Strategic Plan is, in part, based) never made it to first base on account of a deficient permit application. Any operator that makes it past the State and local permitting processes, will have shown that it can and will not only operate the mine without polluting the environment, but also that it can and will clean up its mess once the mine is played out.
Additionally, the 180 million ton forecast (6 million tons over 30 years) is, at best, phantasmagorical. Assays conducted by a previous operator suggested the likely reserves of “green stone” do not exceed 45 million tons and may be as small as 25 million tons. At those levels, given the location of the green stone, mining operations would not even be visible from the Eel River.
That's balderdash! Or, to quote General Schwarzkopf, “bovine scatology.” California's Surface Mining and Reclamation Act ("SMARA") requires every mine, old or new, to have a fully funded reclamation plan before it will receive a permit. Moreover, to make sure every reclamation plan is fully funded, the operator must post a bond as part of the permit application process.
Additionally, the permitting process employed in virtually every California county (including Trinity County) requires submission and review of a comprehensive operating plan that describes in detail the measures to be employed to assure the public there is no on-going pollution arising from the new operation. And while enforcement of these provisions has been, in some instances, problematic at existing mines, the Island Mountain Quarry use permit expired years ago and a wholly new application and review will be required before any operation begins at that location. At last reading, the operator that recently tried to obtain a use permit from Trinity County for Island Mountain (and upon which the NCRA Strategic Plan is, in part, based) never made it to first base on account of a deficient permit application. Any operator that makes it past the State and local permitting processes, will have shown that it can and will not only operate the mine without polluting the environment, but also that it can and will clean up its mess once the mine is played out.
Additionally, the 180 million ton forecast (6 million tons over 30 years) is, at best, phantasmagorical. Assays conducted by a previous operator suggested the likely reserves of “green stone” do not exceed 45 million tons and may be as small as 25 million tons. At those levels, given the location of the green stone, mining operations would not even be visible from the Eel River.
