A year after President Clinton announced his
opposition to a proposed gold mine just outside Yellowstone
National Park, he delivered the goods.
At an
Aug. 12 press conference in the park, Clinton announced that Crown
Butte Mine Inc. had agreed to give up its mine project in exchange
for unspecified real estate valued at no more than $65 million. The
mine would have brought as many as 321 employees into a sparsely
populated area that teems with wildlife and would have produced 11
million tons of acidic rock waste – four tons for every ounce of
gold.
“The agreement … proves that everyone can
agree that Yellowstone is more precious than gold,” the president
said.
Although the details of the exchange have
not been finalized, Mike Clark, the executive director of the
Greater Yellowstone Coalition, says “It’s not a gold-for-gold
exchange, and we won’t settle for damage to other critical
wildlands at Yellowstone’s benefit.” The exchange, he says, could
involve other federal lands, office buildings or even closed
military facilities.
To partially resolve a
pending water pollution lawsuit brought against it by
environmentalists, Crown Butte has agreed to pay $22.5 million
toward cleanup of existing pollution at the site.
*Paul
Larmer
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Yellowstone mine a goner.
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