Today, the Okanogan Highlands Alliance, Washington Environmental Council, and the Center for Environmental Law & Policy announced the appeal of the final water right permits issued by the State Department of Ecology for the proposed Buckhorn Gold Mine in north-central Washington.  The appeal of the last permits will initiate the time-table for legal proceedings before the Environmental Land Use Hearings Board. A previous open-pit mine proposal for Buckhorn Mountain was rejected in January 2000 when a hearings board vacated Ecology’s permits based on issues very similar to the current challenges.

“The Department of Ecology released one of the most controversial permits last, the permit to dewater Buckhorn Mountain. By issuing this permit the Department would allow a multinational corporation to pump all the water out of a mountain that feeds five streams used by people, fish and wildlife. This is not in the public interest,” states David Kliegman director of OHA, “OHA looks forward to finally have our day in court.’

The Department issued a permit for five wells to pump 100 gallons per minute from Buckhorn Mountain. The dewatering would permanently change the way water flows from Buckhorn Mountain causing less water to flow down the tributaries to Myers Creek and more water to flow down the Toroda Creek basin. Ecology predicts it would take 15-25 years after mining for the mountain to refill. During that time all the creeks flowing from Buckhorn would be significantly reduced.

“The rivers, streams, and wetlands surrounding Buckhorn Mountain are already stressed due to current water use in the area.  To allow a company to permanently impact some of these resources is unconscionable,” said Patrick Williams, staff attorney with CELP.

The water rights are based on an incorrectly applied model of the geo-hydrology of Buckhorn Mountain and studies which made faulty assumptions that skewed the results.  Additionally, the water rights are based on an incomplete inventory of aquatic resources, and the mitigation offered does not come close to offsetting the affects of dewatering the mountain.

“Everyone admits that this mine is going to irreversibly change how and where water moves off the mountain.  We can’t rely on guesswork when there is so much as stake,” said Michael Mayer with Washington Environmental Council.

The Department issued a permit to construct the mine over a year before it issued water rights or certified that the waste discharges would meet water quality standards. The groups charge that mine permits are based on flawed and inadequate information that harms people who currently use the water, streams and wetlands on which farms, ranches and fish and wildlife depend.

The water rights for the original Crown Jewel open-pit mine were reversed in 2000 when the state's Pollution Control Hearings Board found that “The speculative and perpetual nature of the mitigation proposed here does not meet the requirements that new water rights not impair existing rights or the requirement that new water rights not be detrimental to the public welfare.”

The Okanogan Highlands Alliance is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to educating the public about the environmental threats of large-scale mining. The Washington Environmental Council has worked for nearly 40 years as a leading voice in the state for the protection of our land, air and water. The Center for Environmental Law & Policy serves as a voice for the public interest water resource management and preservation in Washington State.