LAWSUIT ON SMOKY CANYON

Four conservation groups, including GYC, have filed a lawsuit in federal court contesting the approval by the Forest Service and the BLM to expand the large Smoky Canyon phosphate mine located 60 miles south of Grand Teton National Park.

Smoky Canyon is already a Superfund Site that has recently been scored by the Environmental Protection Agency high enough to qualify for the Superfund National Priorities List. This means it is among the worst of the worst of the Nation's polluted sites.

Expansion of Smoky Canyon will violate
environmental laws meant to protect water quality and wildlife as well as the 2001 Roadless Rule. It is time for the agencies and the mining company to clean up Smoky Canyon Mine before permitting new mining.

The Caribou Clean Water Partnership supports the lawsuit as it is needed to force Simplot and the agencies to do the right thing at Smoky Canyon and begin cleaning up the existing pollution.

Clean up will create new jobs at the mine, secure current mining jobs, and protect other regional jobs as well as support a diverse economy that requires clean water and unpolluted lands. Clean up will also protect the wildlife and livestock that depend upon clean water in the streams and springs around the mine.

Since the agencies have ignored laws and regulations by approving the expansion, the only recourse is to ask the court to intervene. We believe the laws intended to protect our waters and our lands are clear.

Recent talk from Simplot about threats to jobs at the Pocatello Don Plant is a smoke screen meant to raise fear in the public and circumvent the law in order to expand the Smoky Canyon Mine. Currently the mine supplies ore for the Don Plant.

As conservation groups challenge the illegal decision which violates the laws governing water quality and mining on public lands, Simplot has increased its rhetoric about layoffs in Pocatello.

The Don Plant employees are in no immediate threat from the current legal challenge. Simplot recently admitted in writing that there is almost three years of ore remaining at the Smoky Canyon mine. So, should the court determine that the violations of laws prevent expansion of the Smoky Canyon Mine, the Don Plant would still have almost a three-year supply of ore from Smoky Canyon.

Also, there are other ore reserves the Don Plant can use to continue operating. Simplot's own phosphate mine near Vernal, Utah has been processed at the Don Plant before. That mine supplies ore for Simplot's fertilizer plant in Rock Springs, Wyoming. Bringing it online for Pocatello would keep the ore supply constant. Simplot also has years of ore stockpiled at the Gay mine. The Ashley Creek Phosphate Company has also made offers to supply the Pocatello plant with ore at a quality that meets or exceeds Smoky Canyon ore.

Dire talk of layoffs are simply threats to scare the community. Rather than using threats, Simplot should have adhered to the laws that protect the environment and honored its legal agreement to clean up the Smoky Canyon mine.

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