by Michael Howell
On Sheep Creek Mine project
At the request of the Ravalli County Commissioners, a field representative from U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke’s office paid the commissioners a visit on Wednesday, April 1. The commissioners recently sent the entire Montana Congressional Delegation and Gov. Greg Gianforte a letter asking for their support in removing the proposed Sheep Creek Mine project from the federal government’s Fast-41 Transparency list, a fast-track process for expedited review. In their letter, the County Commissioners requested that a full Environmental Impact Statement be conducted for a thorough environmental review of the project’s potentially adverse impacts. The commissioners were hoping to get an update on Zinke’s efforts in that regard.
Instead, Zinke’s Field Representative Matt Zacharias said, “Given this situation and Congressman Zinke’s background at the Interior Department, he is aware of it, but you guys are on the front line here. The fact that they have been as exclusive as they have been, we thought it would be more likely that you guys would hear before we would.”
Commission Chairman Dan Huls said, “Since our original meeting that we held at the Fairgrounds, we have heard crickets from them. Nothing. Zero.”
Zacharias said, “And from what I can gather, it doesn’t sound like they are really moving the ball or the needle, as it were, at all right now. Maybe there was some internal discussions about that. You visited me about that.”
Commissioner Greg Chilcott said, “We have a mining law from 1872 . They were trying to produce and develop and trying to extract producing value from our public lands. They were just lands back then. But the needle has moved significantly, and there is virtually no benefit now other than jobs, and the proposal we are seeing doesn’t look like there’s too many jobs. All we are seeing is risk and no benefit. So we are looking to you.”
Zacharias responded, saying, “From our perspective, what we can do for continuity’s sake is to share with Congressman Zinke and what the Congressman can share with Aaron Flint (head of Interior) is make sure there is some continuity to that conversation. Obviously, that depends upon whether he [Zinke] ends up in a seat. And I suppose there could be an effort at events to try to share with other folks who are running for the seat. But that’s probably going to be more from your guy’s end.”
On eliminating Missoula Regional Forest Service office
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Forest Service, announced it would be moving the Forest Service headquarters out of Washington, D.C, to Salt Lake City, Utah.
“Establishing a western headquarters in Salt Lake City and streamlining how the Forest Service is organized will position the Chief and operation leaders closer to the landscapes we manage and the people who depend on them. This includes supporting our timber growers across the country, including those in the Southeast, by prioritizing a regional office and promoting policies that boost timber production, lowering costs for consumers,” said USDA Secretary Brooke L. Rollins in a release.
“Not having that Regional Office in Missoula anymore, that’s a big deal,” said Commissioner Jeff Burrows. “There was a lot of history there, and it was significant. I think anytime you start to regionalize programs and headquarters to more urban areas, rural communities lose. I don’t know how that’s going to work out in this case, but that’s typically what you see. It may be more efficient on the big picture look, but I can’t imagine that it is going to be beneficial to Montana.”
Commissioner Chilcott said, “Especially when you look at our high fire risk assessment and having to deal with somebody from Colorado or Utah or wherever from Western Montana. We are the number one fire risk in the nation. It seems like it would be a good idea to focus on this area.”
Burrows added, “One of the things regionalization does is, in dealing with the contractor firefighting world, it probably does make it better for a company like, well, Sheehy’s got Bridger, I’m sure this is good for them where contracting gets sole-sourced. But I think you are going to see the mom and pop businesses go under. There is more bureaucracy and more costs associated with it.”
Zacharias responded, “I think the goal is to try to improve the national response because at the end of the day, it’s federal dollars and that’s the case. I agree that going too far in one direction to the regional side and losing the grassroots voices, boots on the ground, can be missed opportunities, and it can be challenging. But I think when it gets too aggregated, from a leader’s perspective, like the military, when it gets too small, then how is it helping the bigger picture?”
Burrows said he would be interested in seeing that analysis and seeing those inefficiencies, because a more localized approach with a local dispatch center might be a little more costly, but you get local folks who know the resources, who can deploy a little quicker. “I would like to see the analysis on that,” he said.
Commissioner Chilcott said, “Talking about fast-tracking something, I’d like to see some infrastructure fast tracking aimed at getting those fuels off the forest. In Montana, we would like to see some mill infrastructure. In the long run, that saves firefighting costs.”
Burrows suggested that the federal government consider subsidizing the firewood business since logging Ponderosa pine was too costly with no saw mills within range. “We could log lodgepole pine and supply local firewood sales.”
Zacharias said they heard a lot about that when they spoke with the folks in Mineral County.
Commissioner Huls remarked that logging the lodgepole pines would help mitigate Pine Beetle infestation.
On Gold Butterfly Project
With the discussion drifting towards timber production, Commissioner Burrows said, “Why don’t you delist Grizzly bears? Just when we thought we had things going here, we just got a ruling on the Gold Butterfly Project that they’ve got to go back through and analyze the grizzly bear situation.”
Zacharias said, “That’s our system of government at work. I think Zinke’s been talking about that with Interior since back in February, that and delisting the Lynx as well.”
Huls said it was “a tool that the anti-forest management people use over and over again. And the fact that they can use the Equal Access to Justice Act and have no skin in the game. Their lawyer fees get paid. It’s insanity.”
Zacharias said, “It’s a lot of contract lawyers that make their money on those type of cases that don’t have contact with local communities. It is another type of concern that may get addressed. There are discussions in the budget about putting together a litigation team for these types of issues. Whether they win or lose is not the conversation. The conversation that the Congressman is having is funding a group of attorneys in DOJ to focus on this. Right now, they assign attorneys who don’t necessarily have a background in the environmental side, and they go to court and face these contract attorneys who specialize in that niche and get smoked in court. That’s the idea for getting a team of four dedicated attorneys together in DOJ dedicated to this sort of thing.”
“We’ve been banging that drum for a long time about the ESA and NEPA,” said Chilcott.
Commissioner Burrows said, “But that’s overall reform thinking. This is one specific animal that we are talking about. This shouldn’t be a polarizing issue. The question is, have the grizzlies met the criteria to be delisted right now? Do we still think they are an endangered species? We’ve got them in Stevensville, and they get hit by cars on the highway and they are pretty much inhabiting everywhere in Montana, including out into the plains. The grizzly bears are back. I think it’s a North American wildlife success story. It’s time to delist them.”
Zacharias said that push was being made. He said the court ordered the US Fish & Wildlife Service to make that decision back in February, but now the deadline has been extended. “The push was being made, but then the judicial side stepped in. This might be something he [Zinke] could put his weight behind.”
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