Rock Creek Mine Victory

Salish & Kootenai Lands Protected, Grizzlies and Bull Trout Spared

by Derf Johnson

For years, the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness, a sacred place for the Ksanka band of the Ktunaxa Nation, has been threatened by two proposed metal mines. One, the Montanore Mine, would tunnel under the Wilderness area from the northeast. The other, the Rock Creek Mine, would come in from the southwest.

In a significant victory for clean water, grizzly bears, and wild country — brought to you by MEIC and our partners — a federal judge struck down the U.S. government’s approval of the proposed Rock Creek mine’s exploration permit in April of this year. This is a major setback for Hecla Mining Co., the Idaho-based corporation backing the mine. The mine, if allowed to proceed, would have devastating consequences for endangered species. The ruling also sets a strong precedent for how the evaluation of mining impacts on wildlife should be conducted from now on.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Forest Service violated the Endangered Species Act with an insufficient biological opinion as part of their environmental review, which only considered the impacts to wildlife from the permitted exploration activity and entirely ignored the impact a full-scale mining operation would have on federally-protected grizzly bears and bull trout in the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness.

At its heart, the Forest Service’s truncated analysis defied common sense, as exploration activity is almost always a precursor to a mine operating permit, and allowing the government to segment its analysis of impacts would ignore the cumulative and consequential decisions that should be evaluated before a project starts.

Originally proposed in the 1980s, the Rock Creek Mine came under Hecla Mining Co.’s ownership in 2015 when Hecla acquired the Revett Mining Co. The proposed mine at Rock Creek would tunnel under the Cabinets to dig up copper and silver. Hecla hopes the operation could grow to encompass almost 500 acres and process up to 10,000 tons of ore per day for as long as 30 years.

However, the mine is predicted to drain groundwater and surface streams in the process, which would imperil the already-threatened bull trout populations. What’s more, the processing and storing of mining materials and waste rock would result in heavy metal pollution, poisoning streams and killing aquatic life. Other heavy metal mines in Montana have resulted in chronic health conditions for humans and wildlife, as well as expensive remediation with no final end in sight.

This important ruling protects Ktunaxa Nation lands, threatened bull trout, and one of the most vulnerable populations of grizzly bears in the contiguous U.S.

MEIC joined the Ksanka Kupaqa Xaʾⱡⱡin, Rock Creek Alliance, Earthworks, Defenders of Wildlife, Sierra Club, and Center for Biological Diversity, and was represented by Earthjustice. Attorney Katherine O’Brien of Earthjustice deserves serious kudos for bringing this victory to fruition.