As executive director of the Gifford Pinchot Task Force, I find the comments of Rick Kasum from Ascot Resources of Canada, regarding the proposed mine on the Mount St. Helens Monument boundary, to be an affront to the residents of Washington. The Mount St. Helens Monument is a national treasure, a region of rare beauty and immense scientific value — not “a devastated area” as he states.
Foreign mining interests have a history of exploiting antiquated U.S. mining laws, acquiring American property for a fraction of its value, bringing in foreign workers and leaving a legacy of pockmarked landscapes and poisoned water supplies. To date, local communities have been shut out of the decision-making process on the exploratory drilling that is the first step in the development of a 3,000-acre mine in their backyard.
In 2008, more than 33,000 citizens stood together to stave off a mining operation on the fringe of the blast zone near the Mount St. Helens Monument. You can be sure that we will again band together, and fight long and hard to make sure that this iconic treasure is preserved for generations to come.
Robert E. Dingethal
Portland