Mary Tome On Fact Checking Environmentalist Claims
Phil Hogan says he is “skeptical.” I am too. I am not skeptical of the mining companies however, because they have regulatory agencies they have to answer to. “Sustainable Ely” folks, on the other hand are free to blurt out anything whether it is true or not.
In April of this year, Betsy Daub, policy director for the Friends of the Boundary Waters (FOB), participated in a “Copper and Nickel Mining” forum facilitated by the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Center for Ethics and Public Policy.
In her presentation she stated, “Where this industry has operated, water pollution has always occurred”
She then went on to reference a report by J. Kuipers’ et al., stating, “In 2006 Kuipers did a study of 183 Environmental Impact Statements” and that “89% of mines predicting no Acid Mining Drainage have developed Acid Mine Drainage”
She continued, saying, “100% of sulfide mines have created water pollution”
The Kuipers report is a study that was commissioned by a group called Earthworks which has a history of opposing new mines. This study is referenced in “Mining Truth” (MT) which is a “report” put together by Conservation Minnesota, The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and FOB.
Actually, the Kuipers did not look at 183 environmental impact statements; it looked at 183 hardrock mines that “have operated since 1975.” “Of the 183 major modern-era hardrock mines identified, 137 (75%) had federal actions that triggered NEPA analysis.” “Of the 137 major mines subject to NEPA, 71 mines had documents that were obtained and reviewed. A total of 104 NEPA documents, either EISs or EAs, were reviewed for the 71 mines.”
In the end, the Kuipers report did case studies on a mere 25 mines and states “The majority of the case study mines (18/25 or 72%) predicted low potential for acid drainage in one or more EISs. Of the 25 case study mines, 36% have developed acid drainage on site to date. Of these 9 mines, 8 (89%) predicted low acid drainage potential initially or had no information on acid drainage potential.”
Reading into the report further I found that 4 of the mines studied actually had no impacts on the water quality. This definitely disputes Betsy’s claim that “100% of sulfide mines have created water pollution.” One of those mines, the Mesquite Mine, has been operating for 26 years. Perhaps she should have read the whole report before referencing it.
Betsy Daub’s claims at the UMD forum were more than misleading or disingenuous, they were downright lies.
I can guarantee that the testimonial given by Betsy Daub at the UMD forum will be found in literature distributed at “Sustainable Ely.” So I encourage Phil to continue to be skeptical. BE VERY SKEPTICAL.
Mary Tome
Fall Lake Township
P.S. The Kuipers report can be found at
http://www.earthworksaction.org/files/publications/PredictionsComparisonsWhitePaperFINAL.pdf