Judge rejects report on Cabinets' mine impact

The Daily Inter Lake

A U.S. District Court judge has ordered that a biological opinion related to the proposed Rock Creek Mine near Noxon be set aside because of inadequate consideration of two endangered species.

Judge Donald Molloy said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was "arbitrary and capricious" when it concluded that the copper-silver mine would not jeopardize the few grizzly bears remaining in the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem. He also faulted the agency for failing to consider the cumulative effects of this and other projects on the Rock Creek bull trout population.

"The biological opinion is set aside and remanded to the Fish and Wildlife Service for consideration with this order," Molloy wrote. The agency "is enjoined from authorizing any taking of grizzly bears or bull trout pending compliance with the Endangered Species Act and this order."

Molloy's opinion came in a lawsuit filed by the Rock Creek Alliance and several other groups. It named the Fish and Wildlife Service as a defendant. Revett Silver Co., the mine developer, intervened for the defense.

This is the latest in a series of legal hurdles for the project, which would run under the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness Area and excavate an estimated 10,000 tons of material per day at full production.

Efforts to develop the mine have been under way for almost two decades. The Kootenai National Forest has twice approved permits for the proposal; a lawsuit related to an earlier biological opinion forced the cancellation of the first, and this latest decision will affect the second.

Opponents of the project have raised a number of concerns, including the mine's impact on endangered species, on the wilderness area itself, and on water quality.