Anything for money
Revett Mining Company's recent ads in the newspapers concerning their proposed copper mine are trying hard to deceive residents, considering the amount of damage planned, they will need to extremely good at it. Most residents love being apart of such a wonderful place.
Special deserves special care. Exploiting for profit the best we have is all right with Revett as long as it pays well. Nothing would be worse for the health of Sanders County than Revett's unneeded copper mine.
Our country does not have a copper shortage; recycling is improving daily. There is no reason to hurt water quality or protected animals, or destroy a pristine protected wilderness area. Revett's ads didn't mention dumping three million gallons of toxic mine waste directly into the Clark Fork River daily between two dams, which would encourage containment of the toxic yuk, three million gallons daily! Digging the tunnels under the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness area will pollute the Clark Fork below. Their proposed toxic yuk storage pond will leak downhill into the Clark Fork below.
A geologist asked me where else does Revett think it would go — up? Few rivers, if any, are as badly polluted with heavy metal toxic waste, especially trapped behind the dams than the Clark Fork River.
The huge Butte and Anaconda copper mines dumped their worst toxic waste into the river for 130 years. That kind of abuse should have "morally" stopped any talk of a polluting mine above it.
The outdated mining law is trying to make the very bad already into something worse. Is it Revett's promise to fill our bars and highways full of drinkers, as with the Troy mine in its hey day? A 150 percent increase in traffic was all restricted to the narrow valley highway. Trucks, trucks, trucks, and more trucks 24 hours every day never stopped. Animals depending on crossing the highway for their daily water needs will quickly be slaughtered. Revett's claims of maintaining environmentally sound production, plus their proven record of responsibility at the Troy mine, depends on who you ask. Many of my neighbors that worked at the Troy mine are not bragging about how responsible they were. They hated it. A popular comment was they didn't move here to work underground. Revett's recent loss of life, tunnel cave-ins, polluted ground water, and a stack of , just served on them does not make their claims "true."
The Clark Fork Valley has lots of jobs, especially if you can use a hammer and don't expect the selection or the pay to compare with Seattle's pay.
Tiffany jewelry company's huge ad in the Washington Post concerning Revett's proposed projects says it all. They refuse any proceeds from Revett's proposed copper mine. They refuse to encourage a project that would cause so much unreasonable harm to so much we value. Our thanks to God for what we call Earth is its proper care.
L.J. LaBelle
Noxon