Hard-Rock Mining Law Stuck in the Past
On Aug. 5, 2015, an estimated 3 million gallons of heavy-metal-laden mine wastewater washed down the San Juan Mountains into southwest Colorado’s Animas River. The water turned a sickly mustard yellow all …
8 Hard Truths About Hardrock Mining
The Gold King Mine disaster in Colorado was an accident waiting to happen. It’s not a unique situation, in part because the laws regulating mining are inadequate on several fronts. …
What We Can Learn from the Colorado Mine Waste Spill
Oftentimes when we talk about conserving our public lands, fish and wildlife and protecting our clean air and waterways, there is an overarching impulse that transcends all politics and economics. …
Toxic Mining Waste: Just Moments from a Disaster for Wildlife
When I saw footage last week of a tailing dam collapse at Mount Polley Mine, my immediate thought was of the Chino Mine near my hometown of Silver City, New …
Tribes Demand Responsible Mining and Clean Water
This week, leaders and environmental staff members from eight tribes and tribal organizations are flying to Washington, D.C. to ask the Obama Administration to address a problem that impacts us …
Pebble Mine Even More Disastrous Than First Thought
After months of cold and ice, Bristol Bay in southwest Alaska is beginning to spring to life. With summer will come millions of bright red sockeye salmon returning from the …
Honoring the River
Everyone knows that mining can be a dirty business, but it turns out that mines are particularly bad news for tribal communities. For more than a century, American Indians and …
The Clean Water Act: 40 Years and Still a Work in Progress
This week marks the 4oth anniversary of the federal Clean Water Act (CWA). This complex and far-reaching law was a milestone back in 1972 and remains a pillar of America’s environmental …
You Ask, We Answer: Why Pebble Mine is Bad News
We’ve been getting some really good questions about the proposed Pebble gold and copper mine, which poses unacceptable risks to the wildlife of Bristol Bay, Alaska. Here we do our …
