Viewpoint: We are killing the patient

Jerry O'Connell

The Clark Fork River flows for nearly 100 miles from its headwaters near Anaconda to its merger with the Big Blackfoot River in Bonner. Most of those miles have been biologically dead for over a century. The cause of death?

Mining.

It took 25 years of legal battles before cleanup began in 2010 which won’t be completed until 2038 at a total cost exceeding $200 million.

But at least we’re bringing the river back to life, or so it would seem. Along its length, the river gets infusions, bit by bit, from a series of tributaries that feed cold, clean water into it, vital sustenance for the struggling patient.

The Little Blackfoot meets the Clark Fork near Garrison, adding enough water to make the river floatable. Flint Creek adds more clean water as the river passes Drummond. The Big Blackfoot joins the Clark Fork in Bonner, more than doubling its volume. And in Missoula, the Bitterroot completes the task of bringing the river back to full health.

These tributaries are the arteries bringing life-giving fluids to a near-death patient, and the patient is slowly reviving.

It sounds like a success story, but there’s a catch. Our politicians have decided that Montana is a good place to mine our “abundant natural resources”, even if mining destroys other natural resources in the process. To quote Governor Gianforte, “Montana’s natural resource abundance makes us a national leader in critical mineral production.”

While we’re in the middle of restoring the Clark Fork, recent proposed mining projects on these tributaries have already received initial permits. The massive 10,800 acre Blue Copper mine at the headwaters of the Little Blackfoot. The Sentinel gold mine at the Big Blackfoot headwaters. The Rio

Tinto copper mine further down the Big Blackfoot. A 64-acre gravel mine on the banks of the lower Big Blackfoot. A gold/copper mine and a tungsten mine on Boulder Creek. The Sheep Creek mine in the headwaters of the Bitterroot.

Hard rock mines always pollute. These are no exceptions. The evidence is everywhere. We are about to pour poison into the arteries that feed the river that we’re spending hundreds of millions of dollars to bring back to life.

It’s time to stop this absurd charade. Mining destroys our most important natural resources – clean water, abundant wildlife, lush forests – while our politicians encourage companies to profit from the minerals lying beneath them, leaving destruction in their path and leaving the cleanup to the

taxpayers.

Show up. Stand up. Speak up. Tell our elected officials to wake up. STOP THE MINES.

Jerry O'Connell is with the Big Blackfoot Riverkeeper, Inc.