BUTTE — A local environmental activist is sharing his perspective on public land use after Montana congressional and local government leaders met with the U.S. Secretary of the Interior in Butte.
Nick Gevock, who works with the Sierra Club — an organization that promotes efforts to protect and conserve public lands across the country — says he wants to remind the public what is at stake when they are not in the room with government leadership.
The meeting between local, state, and federal government officials and mining industry leaders was held in a private setting on the Montana Tech campus on Friday, Feb. 27.
"This is the way the Trump administration and our congressional delegation operate—they never have an open public meeting to actually meet with the people," says Gevock.
Gevock says he understands that mining brings some jobs, but he is concerned about jobs tied to the use of public lands that positively impact local economies and could be negatively impacted by the mining industry.
"We all understand the need for minerals and mining, but at the same time, we know better than anyone in the country here in Butte, Montana, the legacy of mining, and that is often the profits go out of state, and the result for the people who live here are literally centuries of clean up," Gevock said.
Gevock says that historic Butte mining endeavors that have impacted the community and environment for a century is the model that the Trump administration wants to bring to other areas across the nation.
"This is the model that they want to bring to the Boundary Waters in Minnesota, which Rep. Zinke went to the mat for a Chilean mining company that is going to pollute the headwaters that constitute 20 percent of the fresh water in the United States," says Gevock.
He also points out a project that is proposed closer to home.
"It's what we're going to see in the Bitterroot River," says Gevock.
The Sheep Creek Project proposes mining for rare earth minerals south of Darby, near the headwaters of the West Fork of the Bitterroot River. The controversial mine proposal in Ravalli County was put on a list to be "fast-tracked" for federal review late last year.
"They're proposing a mine with a fast-track review and, you know, they are going to smoke the Bitterroot River, which is the lifeblood of that valley. They had a public meeting down there with more than 600 people. One person spoke in favor of it," says Gevock.
Gevock asks if the potential for jobs in the mining indursty have been weighed against the jobs that exist in the outdoor industry that provide jobs and an economic backbone for local communities in a state where tourism is a huge economic driver.
"Yes, there will be some jobs, but has that been weighed against the jobs that are there with our outdoor recreation economy? It's a classic case of privatize the profits and socialize the costs, and the costs are, of course, our public lands, wildlife, and water," says Gevock.
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