Court ruling sets back Montanore mine under Cabinet Mountains Wilderness

Some government agency approvals for a proposed Hecla mine that would drill under the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness were overturned Tuesday by a federal judge in Missoula.

Conservation groups have been challenging government decisions that favored developing the Montanore Mine on the grounds that it would degrade wilderness trout streams and industrialize some of the last remaining grizzly bear habitat in the Cabinet Mountains of northwestern Montana.

In two decisions, 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, the Clean Water Act, the National Forest Management Act and the National Environmental Policy Act by approving an industrial mining operation on the boundary of the wilderness, according to a news release from the conservation groups. The drilling would go underground within the wilderness boundaries.

“We are disappointed but not deterred with the court’s ruling,” said Luke Russell, Hecla Mining’s vice president for public affairs. “We’ll digest the numerous pages of the ruling and then be in discussions with the agencies to address the findings.

“Our initial read is that these issues can be addressed and that we can come back and move the projects forward” through the evaluation phase.

Decisions issued in 2014 and 2016 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Forest Service approved development of the mine, dismissing conservation groups’ arguments that the mine, especially in combination with another proposed mine, would dewater streams, dump wastewater that would be too warm for bull trout to tolerate and increase the potential for grizzly bear losses to poaching and human activity.

“Yesterday’s court rulings invalidate those approvals, concluding, among other things, that the Forest Service’s action ‘puts the proverbial cart before the horse’ in approving mine development despite prohibited impacts to wilderness waters,” Earthjustice lawyer Katherine O’Brien said.

“This decision sends an important signal to permitting agencies and to Hecla Mining Co. that you need to get it right when it comes to water,” said Karen Knudsen, executive director of the Clark Fork Coalition. “Permanently drying up pristine wilderness streams is not getting it right, and we’re glad that the court agreed.”

Other groups involved in the lawsuits include Save Our Cabinets, Western Mining Action Project, Earthworks and Defender of Wildlife.