Published Wednesday, September 29, 2004 Mining firm chief declines debate HELENA - The president of the mining company that has contributed about 97 percent of the war chest for an initiative to reverse the state's 1998 ban on cyanide leach mining has declined an invitation to debate the issue in Montana. Bruce Farling, executive director of Montana Trout Unlimited, which is against reversing the cyanide mine ban, invited Dick De Voto, president of Canyon Resources, Corp., to participate with him in several public forums discuss Initiative 147 in a letter dated Sept. 7. De Voto responded Sept. 22 that it would be inappropriate for him to speak for the initiative and directed Farling to Tammy Johnson, head of the group formally promoting the idea, called Miners, Merchants, and Montanans for Jobs and Economic Opportunity. I-147 would reverse the state's citizen passed ban on cyanide leach mining, implement environmental safeguards available, but not required, before the cyanide ban and restore mineral interests that have expired since the ban passed. Canyon had hoped to open a large cyanide leach gold mine near the headwater of the Blackfoot River when voters banned cyanide leach mining in 1998. The company has been fighting the ban for years. Cyanide leach mining is a technique that extracts gold and silver embedded in large amounts of rock by trickling cyanide through rock piles. Cyanide dissolves the gold and silver into a solution. The precious metals are then extracted. Canyon has contributed more than $1.3 million to the I-147 committee or about 97 percent of all the money that the group has raised, state records show. The money, donated mostly as in-kind services, includes wages for paid signature gatherers to qualify the measure for the ballot and tens of thousands of dollars to the company that employs Johnson, who wrote the text of I-147. "I'm not running the (I-147) campaign. I'm not speaking for the campaign," DeVoto said Tuesday. In his letter to Farling, De Voto also asserted that he is not the spokesman for the I-147 committee and that several groups and people organized against the initiative have filed lawsuits against Canyon Resources. "For these reasons, it is not appropriate for me or Canyon Resources to represent the I-147 campaign in public forums," his letter read. Farling, who could not be reached Tuesday, implied in his letter that because Canyon has paid for almost all of the costs of running the I-147 committee, the company has an obligation to explain itself to the citizen's of Montana. "I believe it is reasonable for Montanans to ask you as the president of the company that is financing a ballot initiative in our state to explain to us directly why you believe it is in our best interests to take your side," Farling wrote. Trout Unlimited has contributed a sizeable chunk of the money behind Save the Blackfoot, the group organized against I-147. Johnson said Tuesday that she had not heard from Trout Unlimited and would consider joining Farling in public debates if her schedule can accommodate it. "I'm not adverse to debating," she said, adding that she's already appeared in two public forums with other opponents to I-147. |