The Chetco River in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. Photo by Lee Webb, U.S. Forest Service.
Plans for a huge gold mining operation has put the Chetco River in Southern Oregon on this year’s “Most Endangered Rivers” list.
The Chetco River in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. Photo by Lee Webb, U.S. Forest Service.
Plans for a huge gold mining operation has put the Chetco River in Southern Oregon on this year’s “Most Endangered Rivers” list.
After decades of leaching mercury into the streams and rivers of Lane County, the EPA has put the former Black Butte Mine on the Superfund clean up list.
The mine is located about ten miles south of Cottage Grove. EPA has documents thousands of cubic yards of tailings and soil that’s been contaminated by mercury and arsenic. Some of it has been carried by streams and rivers into the Cottage Grove reservoir where things have gotten so bad that health officials say it’s a good idea not to each the fish there.
More than two dozen businesses, most of them from Southwest Oregon, are joining the call for new laws to regulate gold mining.
It’s become a big issue for the area, partly because of rising gold prices, partly because of California’s new ban on suction dredge mining. That method is still legal in Oregon and the concern is that California miners will bring their operations north of the border.
Bandon area homeowners have a new argument against a proposed chromite mining operation in their area.
The Coos Bay World newspaper says the homeowners presented evidence that levels of hexavalent chromium are increasing in some nearby wells. The wells are owned by Oregon Resources Corp., the same company that wants to conduct the mining.
The article notes there’s some disagreement over the health threat posed by the chemicals. But homeowners are worried that mining will make things worse.
