by Steve Jones, Corvallis
US Critical Materials (https:uscriticalmareials.com) is on the move again. With the help of a new PR firm they are claiming they use environmentally friendly extraction processes. They completely ignore the real problem: mining in the headwaters of the Bitterroot River. Please don’t be taken in by the greenwashing.
No matter how they process the ore after it’s dug up, the mine itself will still cause major problems. Digging up the land, building roads, and hauling materials will disrupt this sensitive area. The risk of polluting the Bitterroot River with sediment and heavy metals is real. This river provides our drinking water, supports agriculture, and sustains a vital fishery. These are not things we can afford to risk.
USCM is partnering with Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to develop this new extraction process. What works in a small, controlled lab setting often doesn’t work the same way when scaled up to a full-size mine.
The company is also playing the “national security” card, saying we need this mine to reduce our reliance on China. Montana has other sources of rare earth elements. We can get these elements from existing mine waste and acid mine drainage –cleaning up old pollution instead of creating a new problem. That’s a much better way to meet our national needs.
We can’t let USCM’s greenwashing and exaggerated claims go unchallenged. The future of the Bitterroot River is at stake.
Please talk to your friends, family, and neighbors, and elected officials.
Michele Dieterich says
Ravalli County needs to stand together against this mine. It could the Bitterroot River which is our life, our inspiration, and our livlihood in the Bitterroot.
mark says
Nice to see people finally addressing the issue, hopefully people can come together for this one, Being from Butte I;ve seen this before. “National security” at the expense of our health. How will our county commissioners respond ? How do you get past the mentality of ” Drill Baby Drill ” ?
Larry Campbell says
The mining company has announced it will apply to the BNF and MT DEQ for an “Exploration Plan of Operation” in the second quarter of this year. The agencies will review and finalize the Company’s PoO then release it for public comment called “scoping comments”. This will be the first official opportunity for the public to weigh in.
After consolidating issues, seventeen groups have already submitted a set of “pre-scoping comments’. When the official scoping comments period is opened (and the time frame may be quite short) the pre-scoping comments will be updated with the more specific information revealed in the Exploration PoO. Those scoping comments will be made available to public individuals and groups to adopt as a whole or in part to submit. The new shortcuts in permitting will make it hard to fully inform the public about the issues and facts, which is why we got a jump start with our pre-scoping comment letter. It promises to be an “all hands on deck” fire drill when we see the release of the Exploration PoO that starts the clock.
Linda Schmitt says
Thank you, Steve and Larry. This is an existential issue for the Valley. I dont think Critical Materials’ hiring a new megaphone is a good thing. Thanks for letting us know.
Larry Campbell says
I would add that a potentially huge danger to the community needs to be assessed before any ground disturbing activities like drilling or road building happen at Sheep Creek. There is a significant amount of a mineral, actinolite, intricately associated with the Rare Earth Elements that would be the focus of mining. Actinolite can be asbestiform. Where it takes that form it is an amphibole asbestos, like the sister mineral, tremolite, that has caused hundreds of deaths around Libby, Montana due to vermiculite mining there. Amphibole asbestos is far more toxic than the more familiar serpentine asbestos. There have been no assurances by US Critical Materials or the two permitting agencies, Montana DEQ and the Bitterroot National Forest, that any independent analysis and assessment will be done of the potential presence of asbestos at the mine site. USCM has announced that they intend to begin drilling this summer. It is none too soon for the permitting agencies to commit to studying this situation that could be hugely damaging to human health, starting with the bulldozer drivers who would begin the process of carving away the land.
The same issue applied to the vermiculite mine proposed east of Hamilton, but the requirement to study the situation was delayed until after the Final Environmental Impact Statement was released and both the BNF and the mining company had spent a lot of time and money in planning a mine. When the BNF belatedly required a Supplemental EIS aimed at assessing impacts to human health, the mining company left town. That could have been a close call for Hamilton becoming the next Libby.
Now it is the agencies involved with permitting the proposed Sheep Creek mine at the head of the Bitterroot River that need to address this issue and require independent investigation of the potentially life-threatening situation. The sooner the better for all involved, including the Company because the presence of asbestos would be a permit deal-killer (I would hope).
Larry Campbell says
I should add that the threat from possible asbestos is primarily from dust carrying microscopic asbestos particles. Exploration drilling and road building is dusty business, let alone any subsequent mining. The nature of that threat means that the pollution is very hard to contain. Unlike possible pollution in the river, the toxic material would spread in all directions and settle over wide areas. The Libby area is still cleaning up and the amphibole asbestos is even in the bark of trees, requiring specially equipped and trained firefighters to work on fires in the area. An ounce of prevention is the only way to go. There is no cure for the diseases caused by asbestos.