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Letter: Oppose mining near Green River

By Steve Jones, CAMAS
Published: May 2, 2017, 6:00am

We owe thanks to American Rivers for declaring the Green River one of America’s most vulnerable rivers (“Green River declared endangered,” April 14, The Columbian). The topic is vital; the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service could approve permits for new exploration on the site, on the edge of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. We should speak out against this threat to the Green, which flows into the Toutle, Cowlitz and Columbia rivers.

Ascot Resources Ltd. has applied for permits to search for copper, gold and molybdenum by drilling 63 exploratory wells along the Green River in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, roughly 12 miles north of Mount St. Helens’ crater. Exploration is the first step to developing a mine and residents should oppose that step.

It would be folly to develop a mine with its adjacent tailings piles and waste ponds in an area of earthquakes and volcanic activity, especially when the river provides drinking water to residents of Cowlitz County and homes to threatened species of fish.

Cascade Forest Conservancy has led opposition to this development. It was instrumental in bringing American Rivers and nearly 20 other outdoor and conservation groups into the fight. We all need to inform ourselves about this environmental threat and help put an end to it.

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