Gold mine wants court to OK dumping waste in lake

AP on Yahoo ^ | 1/12/09 | Matthew Daly - ap

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON – A lawyer representing an Alaska gold mine urged the Supreme Court on Monday to uphold the mine owner's permit even though he acknowledged that the company's plan to dump metal waste into a nearby lake would kill all aquatic life.

But mining company lawyer Theodore Olson told justices that the waste is more accurately defined as "fill." And, after a decade or more of mining, he said, the lake could be restocked with no permanent harm to the environment.

[NormsRevenge]

Coeur Alaska
http://www.kensingtongold.com/index.html

[CaribouCrossing]

This mining operation wants to kill kittens!!! We must protest!!

[HighlyOpinionated]

Humans are the only species who pollute/poison their own home.

I don't relish the idea of polluting the streams with the euphemistically described "fill" . . . why not turn the "fill" into an alternative energy source?

[sitkaspruce]

The solution the environmentalists wanted was a Pentagon sized mound of tailings visible by Cruise Ships from Lynn Canal. By the way of perspective downtown Juneau, is built on mine tailings ie. crushed rock. The oral arguments are posted already and make fascinating reading if you care what the liberal judges ie. Souter think. Somewhat scary actually.

[decimon]

I don't relish the idea of polluting the streams with the euphemistically described "fill" . . .

Neither do I. The mining company should absorb the full cost of its operations. In fact, I believe this should have been the approach to 'environmentalism' by free-market advocates. In the absence of such an approach, we got horrendous government agencies.

...why not turn the "fill" into an alternative energy source?

What of gold mine waste is fuel?

[Osage Orange]

Humans are the only species who pollute/poison their own home.

LOL!!

You ever seen a rat nest? And the surrounding area? And I'm not talking about Congress....

Plenty of species "pollute" their own homes....then they up and move to new homes.

FWIW

[aimhigh]

Humans are the only species who pollute/poison their own home.

Pigeons, and many others.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

This is wrong on many levels. Coal miners are not allowed to spill their detritus off site and neither should hard rock miners.
Western states have plenty of examples of poisoned land where mining destroyed the surroundings and could have been reclaimed or damage minimized. This gives the extractive industries a bad reputation they don't need.

[IYAS9YAS]

Humans are the only species who pollute/poison their own home.

I take it you've never been to cattle pasture or barns.

[okie01]

Humans are the only species who pollute/poison their own home.

Ever examine a bird's nest?

I didn't think so...

[Ben Ficklin]

"Coal miners are not allowed to spill their detritus off site...."

This lawsuit flows from mountaintop coal miners in WV disposing of overlay into ravines.

The enviros' lawsuits against the coal companies hinged on the Corp definition of "waste", which was different from from the EPA definition.

Clinton refused to change the Corp definition. Gore and Bush both campaigned on changing it. WV didn't believe Gore and went Bush, which put Bush over the top.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I've been intimately involved in surface mining coal and I know the rules. I cannot explain recent developments in the law.
In order for miners to complete fairly, they have to know what the rules are. When mountaintop removal and head of hollow fill rule were changed, this changed the economics of mining and bidding.