For Release July 28, 2004 Paul Roos, treasurer, 793-5060 or 459-3648 Blackfoot River Group Formed to Fight I-147 Ovando , MT , July 28, 2004 – An organization of Blackfoot landowners, business people, conservationists and Montana taxpayers announced today that they have formed a campaign group to fight I-147, the ballot initiative that repeals Montana 's voter-approved ban on open-pit cyanide leach mining. Save the Blackfoot. VOTE NO on I-147 is very concerned that I-147 is aimed primarily at allowing Colorado 's Canyon Resources Mining Company to proceed with plans to construct a huge open-pit cyanide leach mine along the upper Blackfoot River . Canyon Resources has funded 97 percent of the initiative campaign to date. Paul Roos, a long-time fishing and hunting outfitter, is the group's treasurer. Roos, who grew up on the Blackfoot River , says: "We formed this group to remind Montanans that I-147 jeopardizes clean water, wild trout, private property and the rural traditions of real places such as the Blackfoot Valley . Open-pit cyanide leach mining has failed all over Montana , polluting water, harming private property and leaving taxpayers with expensive cleanups. Montanans said no six years ago, and we should say no again." Rancher Jon Krutar, a lifelong resident of the Blackfoot Valley and board member of Save the Blackfoot. VOTE NO on I-147 , cautions Montanans that, "Canyon Resources has long shown disrespect for its agricultural neighbors at its Kendall Mine," an open-pit cyanide leach mine near Lewistown. "It's a matter of record that this company and this mining technology have harmed water sources critical to ranchers. The Blackfoot River is the lifeblood of the valley I call home. We do not need this technology and this company in Montana 's valuable watersheds." Proponents of I-147 claim the measure contains "new" and "stringent" safeguards to prevent problems from open-pit cyanide leach operations. But in fact, the head of Montana 's Department of Environmental Quality has stated publicly there is nothing new in the initiative, and that I-147's requirements have been in place at existing and past mines. "Every single so-called new requirement in I-147 has been required and used at existing and past cyanide-leach mines in Montana," says Mark Gerlach, a Blackfoot landowner and ranch foreman. "And the record is clear. These measures – double liners, engineering against 100-year rainstorms, reclamation bonding and groundwater monitoring – have failed miserably in protecting water, private property and taxpayers. I-147 is a hoax foisted on Montana by a company intent on mining the way it wants, the neighborhood be damned." Gary Buchanan, a Billings investment advisor who has an affinity for the Blackfoot and responsible industry, says, "I-147 is actually an anti-mining measure. It creates a black eye on all resource extraction by allowing one type of mining that always pollutes and always leaves huge reclamation messes for the public to clean up. Fortunately the majority of mining in Montana does not employ huge open-pits coupled with cyanide, and thus when we prohibited this type of activity we still maintained a strong mining industry." --end-- |