DEQ: Little Rocky mine exploration needs more analysis

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality released a final environmental assessment last week requiring additional analysis in an environmental impact statement for a proposed exploration project near the former Zortman Mine, which has been aggressively opposed by the nearby Fort Belknap.

The new exploration project, proposed by Luke Ployhar, would be to look for mining opportunities in the Little Rockies, a sacred place to the people of Fort Belknap who almost universally oppose any efforts to mine in the area, and whom officials said were pleasantly surprised by DEQ's decision.

In the statement announcing the decision DEQ said the response the project proposal got from the people of Fort Belknap suggest that more study, in the form of an environmental impact statement, must be done to determine if the exploration will have negative effects on the area.

"Comments on the draft EA presented DEQ with conflicting evidence from credible and potentially expert sources," the release says. "This evidence raises substantial questions regarding whether significant impacts could occur to historical, archeological, social and cultural resources as a result of the proposed actions. Based on the current information before us, DEQ cannot say with certainty that potentially significant impacts do not exist, DEQ must comply with the requirements of Montana Environmental Policy Act and complete an environmental impact statement (EIS) that will further analyze potential impacts."

This decision came as a shock to many on Fort Belknap, who regard it as a victory, and a good sign for the future.

Fort Belknap Indian Community Council President Jeff Stiffarm said DEQ clearly listened to the people of his community who showed up at a meeting last month to voice their opposition to the mining exploration.

"I asked them not to listen with your ears when you hear people speak here today but to listen with your hearts," Stiffarm said. "Obviously they did, and I'm so thankful."

The tribes have objected to mining in the area primarily because of the cultural and environmental impacts it could potentially have.

Fort Belknap Indian Community Council Member Warren Morin, who represents an area very close to the mountains, also expressed his surprise at DEQ's decision and pointed out the devastating environmental impacts of Zortman Mining Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pegasus Mining Co., which used heap leach mining to extract gold from the area via two open-pit mines totaling about 1,200 acres of land, half public and half private, before going bankrupt in 1997.

Heap leach mining, which uses chemicals including cyanide to leach minerals like gold from ore, left incredible environmental damage that the bond posted by Pegasus could not cover.

The state and federal government have spent millions on the cleanup so far with millions more to come in annual water treatment along with reclamation.

"We just can't let it happen again," Morin said. " ... It's a perpetual nightmare for us, and for the people cleaning it up. There's no end in sight and the cost is just getting worse and worse."

Ployhar has argued that the mining techniques his company would employ are different and would not cause any significant environmental destruction, but that claim has been met with skepticism by many, especially given the area's history of exploitation by the U.S. federal government and private entities.

The federal government coerced the Fort Belknap tribes in the 1890s to sell the land, part of the original Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, back to the government after gold was discovered there.

This, coupled with the circumstances by which Ployhar came to propose this exploration, have been cited by many, Stiffarm included, as a big reason for their concerns about any new mining operations.

Since 2000, the U.S. Department of the Interior had been issuing five-year withdrawals of the federal lands in the region from mining claims, renewing the withdrawals every five years.

In a request for an investigation by the office of the inspector general of the U.S. Interior Department, opponents of the mining noted that Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt signed a notice for a 20-year mineral withdrawal, but on a reduced area, Oct. 1, 2020, and the notice wasn't published in the federal register until Oct. 7, 2020.

The previous five-year withdrawal expired Oct. 4, 2020, and Blue Arc, owned by Ployhar, filed 10 mining claims in the area Oct. 5, prior to the intended withdrawal being noticed to the public.

Morin said he remembers the days when the Pegasus mining began and the effect it had on the people beyond the environmental impacts.

"It was traumatic for us," he said, " ... those blasts going on every day, shaking windows."

He said the mountains aren't just sacred to the people of Fort Belknap, but integral to their way of life, a place where they pray, fast, prepare for the Sundance and is very close to their Sundance grounds and powwow grounds.

To the tribes, he said, the mountains are like people, they gave life to the tribe in their times of need and should be respected, not cut up for mineral extraction.

Morin said he thinks DEQ didn't really understand just how sacred the mountains are to the people of Fort Belknap, but the testimony they heard last month may have changed that, a development he couldn't be happier about.

"It gives me hope, I'm just glad they listened to us," he said.

He thanked everyone who showed up that day for making their voices heard and he's proud of them.

Fort Belknap Indian Community Public Relations Officer Camille Stein, who was integral to organizing last month's meeting, said she's happy about the decision and the community's efforts to get them to see their perspective.

"We felt like (DEQ) was looking at the economic side and they really needed to listen to the people, and I'm glad that the people showed up," she said. "... Everything we believe in is tied into those mountains."

Stiffarm also praise the community for braving the minus-33 degree weather that day to make sure they were heard.

He said the tribe is universally opposed to mining efforts in the mountains but he wants to make it known that neither he nor the tribe have anything against Ployhar.

However, he said, Ployhar needs to understand where the tribe is coming from.

"What if Fort Belknap went to his backyard and set up a Sundance lodge, what do you think his thoughts would be? ... 'Go back to your homes,' that's what he'd probably tell us, 'because this is my home.' What we told him is those mountains out there, that's our home, you have no right there, trying to come up there and mine again. That's what I want Mr. Ployhar to think about," Stiffarm said.

While reaction to DEQ's decision has been positive, Stiffarm and his colleagues said they realize this is ultimately a small victory in the long run, and much of the war yet remains.

He said the tribe plans to oppose any efforts to mine with everything they have and they're not going to stop.

"We plan on battling all the way to the end, we're going to fight till we can't fight no more," he said.

"We're fighting for life here," he added. "We're not fighting for minerals or gold, we're fighting for life and the life of our grandchildren and our great grandchildren. That's what it means to us."

Dan Belcourt, a Missoula Attorney working with Fort Belknap on this issue, said the tribes are working with like-minded organizations and have no intention of backing down, especially in the wake of what Pegasus left behind.

"We knew the environmental degradation that it would cause," he said. " ... And when Pegasus used a corporate strategy to go bankrupt and bail out on the reclamation promises they made, that didn't sit right with the tribe, they've been diligently fighting this, and they will continue to fight this."

While the tribes are steeling themselves for a legal fight if that's what it comes to, Stiffarm said, this DEQ decision does give him hope, not just on this issue, but for improved relations between Native American communities and DEQ in general.

He said the fact that they listened to the community and took them seriously is a good sign of things to come.