BOISE, Idaho -- U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled Dec. 18 that the U.S. Forest Service acted "arbitrarily and capriciously" in not determining risks to water quality and Yellowstone cutthroat trout when it granted a Canadian company's permit to explore for free gold on public lands west of Yellowstone National Park.
Represented by the firm Advocates for the West, the Idaho Conservation League and Greater Yellowstone Coalition filed suit in November 2018 challenging Otis Gold's exploration permit, which was granted the previous August.
"Idaho's water is more important than gold. It's the lifeblood of our state and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem," said Kathy Rinaldi, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition's Idaho Conservation Coordinator. "Any mining or exploration needs to ensure that the resources we value in Idaho, water, wildlife and productive farmland, are protected. This ruling does that."
Judge Winmill ordered Caribou-Targhee National Forest to determine the potential impact of Otis Gold's work on ground water in the Dog Bone Ridge area of Clark County, and on Yellowstone cutthroat trout habitat in Corral Creek, which flows from the project area. The ruling affirmed the permit as it applies to other areas targeted for drilling.
Otis Gold's Kilgore Project site is just south of the Centennial Mountains, east of Spencer and west of Kilgore. In October 2019, a Montana firm working for Otis Gold began exploration under a five-year U.S. Forest Service exploration permit.
Farms and wildlife preserves downstream from the project depend on water that drains year-round into West Camas Creek, Camas Creek and their tributaries.
Winmill ruled that "the Forest Service does not know how groundwater will drain from Dog Bone Ridge to Corral Creek." He ordered the Forest Service to analyze the project's potential to contaminate groundwater and Corral Creek.
Otis Gold is hoping to launch a 12,000-acre-plus open-pit mine in a wildlife-migration corridor in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The impacted area lies between Montana's Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge and Idaho's Camas National Wildlife Refuge.
Otis proposes to use a cyanide-leaching process to extract gold from low-grade ore. Neighboring Montana banned the same process decades ago, due to its devastating environmental legacy there and elsewhere in the West.
Like other mining companies that are targeting America's public lands, Otis Gold is moving aggressively to take advantage of three key factors: the soaring price of gold; the obsolete 19th-century American law that still governs mining on the nation's public lands; and the fact that in times of skyrocketing federal deficits, even foreign mining companies remain exempt from paying royalties to the U.S. Treasury for the wealth they extract from public lands.
In its investor solicitations, Otis says its Kilgore Project is only the start of a far larger mining future for the Centennial Mountains area.
The permit authorizes Otis Gold to work 24/7 to construct more than 10 miles of temporary roads, clear up to 140 drill pads, and drill up to 420 exploratory holes.
The project covers 20 square miles adjacent to the Steel Creek Campground. The area's many dispersed camping areas support a wide range of outdoor-recreation activities, especially ATV riding and RV camping. It also is adjacent to the Continental Divide and the famous Continental Divide Trail.
Advocates for the West Executive Director Laird Lucas welcomed the ruling's broad significance. "The court's ruling affirms that the Forest Service must fully assess impacts to water and sensitive species before approving mining exploration."
Represented by the firm Advocates for the West, the Idaho Conservation League and Greater Yellowstone Coalition filed suit in November 2018 challenging Otis Gold's exploration permit, which was granted the previous August.
"Idaho's water is more important than gold. It's the lifeblood of our state and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem," said Kathy Rinaldi, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition's Idaho Conservation Coordinator. "Any mining or exploration needs to ensure that the resources we value in Idaho, water, wildlife and productive farmland, are protected. This ruling does that."
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| Corral Creek is Yellowstone cutthroat trout habitat. |
Otis Gold's Kilgore Project site is just south of the Centennial Mountains, east of Spencer and west of Kilgore. In October 2019, a Montana firm working for Otis Gold began exploration under a five-year U.S. Forest Service exploration permit.
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| Corral Creek Road, looking north toward Dog Bone Ridge |
Farms and wildlife preserves downstream from the project depend on water that drains year-round into West Camas Creek, Camas Creek and their tributaries.
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| One of many streams that flow from the Kilgore Project site. |
Otis Gold is hoping to launch a 12,000-acre-plus open-pit mine in a wildlife-migration corridor in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The impacted area lies between Montana's Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge and Idaho's Camas National Wildlife Refuge.
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| A Canadian firm used cyanide at Summitville, Colorado. |
Like other mining companies that are targeting America's public lands, Otis Gold is moving aggressively to take advantage of three key factors: the soaring price of gold; the obsolete 19th-century American law that still governs mining on the nation's public lands; and the fact that in times of skyrocketing federal deficits, even foreign mining companies remain exempt from paying royalties to the U.S. Treasury for the wealth they extract from public lands.
In its investor solicitations, Otis says its Kilgore Project is only the start of a far larger mining future for the Centennial Mountains area.
The permit authorizes Otis Gold to work 24/7 to construct more than 10 miles of temporary roads, clear up to 140 drill pads, and drill up to 420 exploratory holes.
The project covers 20 square miles adjacent to the Steel Creek Campground. The area's many dispersed camping areas support a wide range of outdoor-recreation activities, especially ATV riding and RV camping. It also is adjacent to the Continental Divide and the famous Continental Divide Trail.
Advocates for the West Executive Director Laird Lucas welcomed the ruling's broad significance. "The court's ruling affirms that the Forest Service must fully assess impacts to water and sensitive species before approving mining exploration."
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