Mines
must be reclaimed, pits back-filled, highwalls reduced, the entire site
re-graded, and the many acres of exposed toxic wastes capped with 4
feet of impermeable clay with a non-acid generating material and topsoil,
so that groundwater can no longer be polluted. Reclamation is more than
making things look nice - we must breathe new life into the devastated
land. It means returning the land to its previous condition in terms
of aesthetics and function. Even if reclamation of the surface results
in a landscape of natural topography and native plants, acid mine drainage
and the toxic chemicals used in extracting and processing ore can contaminate
groundwater for centuries. |
The
mining industry is the top toxic polluter in Montana. The industry should
be made to pay up front for the inevitable full reclamation and cleanup
costs. Like a long-range insurance policy, bonds should be large enough
to cover the direct and indirect cost of reclamation. Since only the
last 15 years state law require larger mines to clean up after themselves,
there are no good examples of successful reclamation. While extraction
of minerals over the last 150 years has now developed into a science,
there has been little attention and/or investment for putting the exhausted
land back together. 
In
the past, the mining industry has left the public with massive cleanup
costs. Mining companies should be made to clean up abandoned, polluting
mines - not the taxpayers. The cleanup burden must be shifted to where
it belongs: on the shoulders of multi-national mining companies. The
public eventually pays for any reclamation costs that are not covered
by bonds. These costs also include impaired public health and pollution
of groundwater, streams and air that can last for years. Generally,
good reclamation costs money and mines will do anything to avoid it.
A clean, unpolluted environment and a diversified economy is a benefit
to communities in the long run. Reclamation is an important source of
jobs in Montana, but the state has a responsibility to collect sufficient
funds in bonds to cover the costs when mining is concluded, to ensure
that cleanup costs are not left to taxpayers. ~