Tell BLM: Say NO to Mine Expansion in Wild Horse Habitat

Posted by Denise Brown on September 18, 2015

Tell BLM: Say NO to Mine Expansion in Wild Horse Habitat

Photo | BLM Nevada

Comments must be received by September 28, 2015

http://act.wildhorsepreservation.org/p/dia/action3/common/publ

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) currently is accepting public comments on a plan to expand the Bald Mountain mining operation that will affect the wild horses living in the Triple B Herd Management Area (HMA) in White Pine County, Nevada. The proposed action will permanently remove 1,210 acres of already scarce vegetation available for wild horses, temporarily remove an additional 6,879 acres of currently available forage, reduce the amount of water available for wild horse use, increase the size of the area negatively impacted by human activity and noise, and pose a risk to wild horse safety and health by either physical injury or exposure to poisonous mercury and cyanide contamination, which is a byproduct of gold mining.

Please join us in opposing the expansion of this mine in an area where the BLM is supposed to be protecting wild horses!

Subject: Bald Mountain Mine North and South Operations Area Projects

Your Letter:

To Whom It May Concern: 
As a taxpayer and member of the public who has a stake in the public lands managed by the Egan Field Office, I urge you to reject the expansion of the Bald Mountain Mine. This mining project will jeopardize the well-being of wild horses who call the Triple B Herd Management Area (HMA) home and, by the BLM’s own admission, will involve the loss of valuable wildlife habitat. 
In addition, the project will cause further destruction of the sensitive desert landscape and the inevitable pollution of aquifers and surface and subsurface areas. The Draft EIS acknowledges this fact and clearly states that this pollution will harm wildlife, including federally protected wild horses. 
The BLM would be derelict in its mandate to protect public lands and manage them for multiple uses by granting the expansion of the Bald Mountain Mine, due to the vast amounts of water each project will consume and the water that will be lost for wild horses and other wildlife. There is no excuse for the BLM to expand this intensive water-consuming mine in a designated Herd Management Area, especially while much of the West is experiencing severe drought conditions and operating under serious water-restrictions. 
As you know, mines negatively impact surface water availability by draining water from aquifers. In fact, the US government’s own scientists estimate that it could take more than 200 years to replenish the groundwater removed by mining operations. 
The BLM must deny the Bald Mountain Mine expansion in order to fulfill its mandate to protect the wild horses who are currently living in the Triple B HMA. The BLM’s “multiple use” mandate does not require the agency to expand mining operations or to approve each and every mining proposal that is submitted especially when it would severely compromise, undermine, or restrict the other “multiple uses” of the lands that would be affected by it. 
However, if the BLM authorizes this project in spite of strong opposition from many private citizens and nonprofit groups, much stronger mitigation measures than those currently proposed must be required, including the following: 
• REQUIRED buffer zones (at least 1 mile in size) between mining expansion activities and core wild horse habitat area, including the corridors used by wild horses to access water sources, and between the mining activities and water sources themselves. 
• REQUIRED development of NEW water sources for wild horses if mining activities impact present water sources. 
• REQUIRED timing/seasonal restrictions and access route restrictions during the peak foaling period. 
• STRICTLY ENFORCED speed limits on all access roads within the HMA to prevent wild horse-vehicle collisions. 
• REQUIRED and mandatory education for mine employees regarding wild horses, their federal protections and their natural behaviors so that personnel in the area will have an understanding of and respect for the existing wild horse herd. 
Thank you for your consideration.

Stephanie Trujillo

BLM-Egan Field Office

Fax:BLM_NV_EYDO_Barr

If you prefer, you can submit your comments directly to the BLM utilizing the contact information below. All comments must be received no later than September 28, 2015

BLM-Egan Field Office, HC 33 Box 33500, Ely, NV 89301, Attn: Stephanie Trujillo or fax them to Stephanie Trujillo at (775) 289-1910.

Or you can submit them via email to BLM_NV_EYDO_Barrick_Bald_EIS@blm.gov

Constituents outside the United States are not eligible to send an email using our web form above. International comments must be mailed or emailed directly to the address above.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The Triple B Herd Management Area (HMA) totals 1,225,000 acres; the study area overlaps approximately 40,716 acres (3 percent) of the HMA. The current estimated wild horse population for the Triple B HMA is 1,460 wild horses (BLM 2015).

Excerpts from the Draft EIS:

“Under the Proposed Action, implementation of surface disturbing activities as a result of proposed development and expansion would temporarily remove approximately 4,322 acres of available forage within the Triple B HMA within the proposed North Operation Area; and approximately 2,557 acres of available forage within the Triple B HMA within the proposed South Operation Area.”

“This disturbance would also permanently remove approximately 863 acres of available forage within the proposed North Operation Area and 347 acres within the proposed South Operation Area.”

“Assuming successful reclamation of all project components, residual impacts to wild horses would include the permanent loss of available forage and acreage within the Triple B HMA of approximately 1,210 acres, 885 acres, and 780 acres for the Proposed Action, Reconfiguration Alternative, and the WRM Alternative, respectively. These residual impacts would be associated with open pits, which would not be reclaimed.”

“Wild horse distribution may be affected as a result of the proposed mining-related activity in areas where wild horses currently use the Triple B HMA. The effects to wild horse distribution also would affect the utilization of available forage. Indirect impacts may include the introduction or spread of noxious weeds and invasive species potentially resulting in the reduction of available forage quality and quantity.

“The loss of ephemeral drainages would represent a potential reduction in available water for wild horses.”

“Increased traffic volumes could result in increased rates of wild horse-vehicle collisions, resulting in injury or death.”

“Exposure to open pits, process ponds, storm water/event ponds, HLFs, and other areas of cyanide use could pose a risk to wild horse safety and health through either physical injury or contamination.”

Map of Mine within HMA:

Gold Mines: Massive Water Consumers

Gold mines drain nearly 10 million gallons, or 38 million liters, of water a day in the driest state in America and the fastest growing one, propelled by the demographic rocket of Las Vegas. It is just one of the many strange byproducts of the tangled Nevada love affair with gold. Government scientists estimate it could take 200 years or more to replenish the groundwater removed by mining companies, with little public attention or debate.

When they are closed, the vast pits they leave behind will create a deficit in the aquifer equivalent to 20 to 25 years of the total flow of the longest river in Nevada, the Humboldt, according to state figures tallied by independent scientists.

“When they stop pumping, what you’re going to hear is a huge sucking sound,” said Robert Glennon, a law professor at the University of Arizona who has written on water issues in the western United States. “The impact on the Humboldt River will be catastrophic.”

That is not all. The Nevada gold mines will bequeath more toxic mercury waste in their mountainous rock piles than any other industry, about 86 percent of the U.S. total in 2003, according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. New York Times, 2005

Posted under Uncategorized
Comments Off

Comments are closed.

Tell BLM: Say NO to Mine Expansion in Wild Horse Habitat

Tell BLM: Say NO to Mine Expansion in Wild Horse Habitat

Stephanie Trujillo

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Gold Mines: Massive Water Consumers

horse book publisher