If Atlanta Gold wants to have a future, it cannot walk away from the pollution of the past. That is the summary of a court ruling last week, and U.S. District Chief Magistrate Judge Mikel Williams got it right.
Williams is holding the Canadian mining company responsible for continuing to clean up arsenic from Montezuma Creek, a tributary of the Boise River that, eventually, runs from the gold-laced mountains of Elmore County to the Boise Greenbelt.
Atlanta Gold had argued that it no longer owned the old mining tunnel that fed contaminated water into the creek — trying to make the case that it was voluntarily cleaning up pollution that wasn’t its responsibility. Not exactly. In 2011, Atlanta Gold allowed its claim to the contaminated tunnel to expire — a convenient dodge, considering that the company had simultaneously exercised options on 33 other claims in the area.
The U.S. Forest Service and the Environmental Protection Agency didn’t buy this maneuvering, and now a federal judge has sided with the federal agencies.
If that isn’t enough to get Atlanta Gold on task, Williams raised the stakes. He said the company has failed to meet its obligations under the Clean Water Act. The company has been out of compliance since 2009 — and, at $37,500 a day, could face more than $60 million in fines.
Lest that number seem steep, let’s place it in proper value. Consider the abiding value of a clean Boise River.
For thousands of Boiseans, the river is the refuge in our backyards, a place for floating and fishing, for recreation and renewal. It represents the best of Boise. The same can be said for the community’s visionary efforts, many years ago, to restore the river to its pristine condition.
It is trite yet true to say that it is impossible to put a price tag on the river and the Greenbelt that straddles it. Not that it matters. It isn’t for sale. If Atlanta Gold can’t be a good enough neighbor to protect the river, then the company isn’t a neighbor worth having.
Atlanta Gold has tried to finagle its way out of its environmental obligations.
And this is before the company has even opened its plant.
And this is happening in the middle of a boom in the gold industry, when surging prices should make mining more lucrative than ever.
If this is how the company behaves now — when prices are high and, as a fledgling company, it ought to be acting on its best behavior — just how will it run things when times are tougher? Or when it has no reason to care about making a good impression on the community?
“Our View” is the editorial position of the Idaho Statesman. It is an unsigned opinion expressing the consensus of the Statesman’s editorial board. To comment on an editorial or suggest a topic, email editorial@idahostatesman.com.
