And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1999 17:26:20 -0600 From: Wild Rockies InfoNet <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: River Group and Blackfoot Rancher Sue Land Board Over SPJV Leases FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 14, 1999 Contact: Geoff Smith or Karen Knudsen, 406/542-0539, mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Dick Dolan, Goetz, Gallik, Baldwin & Dolan, P.C., 406/587-0618 River Group and Blackfoot Rancher Sue Land Board Over SPJV Leases MISSOULA, MT--A Missoula-based river protection group and a Blackfoot Valley rancher are filing suit today against Montana's Board of Land Commissioners for illegally granting a mineral lease to developers of the proposed gold mine near Lincoln, Montana. Filing in State District Court in Helena, the plaintiffs ask that the lease be declared void. In August 1994, the Land Board gave the Seven-Up Pete Joint Venture a revised mineral lease encompassing its McDonald gold project, adjacent properties, and other mineral deposits. This consolidated lease covers 4-1/2 sections, and, according to the plaintiffs, violates state regulations that prohibit a lease from encompassing more than one section of state land. "What this means is that lands having nothing to do with the proposed McDonald project are tied up indefinitely," said Clark Fork-Pend Oreille Coalition spokesperson Geoff Smith. "Without the consolidation, those leases would have expired three years ago." "There's no doubt Seven-Up Pete got a sweetheart deal," said Mark Gerlach who owns land next to the proposed mine site. "But it's also an illegal deal, and it needs to be fixed," he said. "Out-of-state miners need to be playing by the same rules as the people of Montana." The McDonald project has been held up since July 1998--first by the failure of project-owner Canyon Resources to pay its bills for environmental review work, and then by I-137, the ballot initiative that bans cyanide heap-leaching at new Montana mines. The mining industry is pursuing a legal challenge to declare the ban unconstitutional. "The cyanide ban doesn't change the fact that the Land Board broke the law," said Smith. "Canyon has made it clear that they intend to tie up these leases for as long as possible. They aren't holding on to them for grazing. They intend to mine the headwaters of the Blackfoot. More important, if state lands on the Blackfoot could get tied up in this way, so could state lands elsewhere. The lease needs to be straightened out to make sure the public interest is served." Coalition members first approached the Land Board with its concerns in October 1997. The group petitioned the board the following March, asking its members to void or renegotiate the lease. The Land Board dismissed the petition out of concern for the appropriateness of acting in a review capacity of their own actions. -30- Karen Knudsen // [EMAIL PROTECTED] Clark Fork-Pend Oreille Coalition PO Box 7593, Missoula, MT 59807 406/542-0539 (tel) 406/542-5632 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.clarkfork.org Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ UPDATES: CAMP JUSTICE http://shell.webbernet.net/~ishgooda/oglala/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
