Rock Creek Alliance Inc

The mission of the Rock Creek Alliance is to protect the Clark Fork-Pend Oreille Watershed and the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness from the impacts of the proposed Rock Creek mine. Those of us that live, work, and recreate in North Idaho and northwestern Montana believe this to be a very special place. The unspoiled waters still run clear and cold, the mountains and valleys provide habitat for a multitude of wildlife, and opportunities for recreation are endless. Motivated by the desire to keep our home and way of life unspoiled, we have been working hard to protect it for 20 years!

The centerpiece of the region is Idaho’s pristine Lake Pend Oreille. This incredible lake is 65-miles long and covers 148 square miles.  Lake Pend Oreille receives over 90% of its water from the Clark Fork River, which flows through western Montana before reaching Idaho.  Our lake provides essential habitat for bull trout and boasts an important kokanee salmon fishery.

Montana’s Cabinet Mountains Wilderness is a unique landscape that deserves complete protection. The wilderness is 94,360-acres and contains countless alpine lakes and rugged mountain peaks. The wilderness also provides some of the last available habitat for a tiny population of grizzly bears.

The Rock Creek mine was first proposed in 1995 to extract copper and silver ore from beneath the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness. Mining facilities would be located in Montana’s Rock Creek drainage, just 25 miles upstream from Idaho's Lake Pend Oreille.

The mine plan includes a perpetual discharge of pollutants, such as cadmium, selenium, mercury, and lead, into the Clark Fork River. This heavily polluted mine water would require long-term treatment for potentially hundreds of years.  Even with treatment, the wastewater would still contain metals that would ultimately flow into Lake Pend Oreille.

A mountain of mine tailings (100 million) would be placed in an impoundment next to the river so seepage of contaminated tailings water wouldn’t have far to go. Unfortunately, the mine is relying on an unstable tailings dam, the likes of which failed in other areas sending massive amounts of tailings sludge downstream. To make matters worse, regulators have failed to apply the appropriate dam safety calculations when looking at the dam’s potential to withstand a sizable earthquake.

The Cabinet Mountains Wilderness would be most directly impacted.  Underground operations would divert precious groundwater from aquifers that wilderness lakes and streams depend upon.  In addition to dewatering, alpine lakes, like the popular Cliff Lake, could be drained if mining intercepts faults.  

Solitude and quiet would become increasing rare in this relatively small wilderness, which would be flanked by industrial facilities generating light, noise, blasting vibrations, and truck traffic.

The anticipated impacts from the proposed project also would include significant consequences to fish and wildlife including the threatened grizzly bear and bull trout.  

The Forest Service issued a permit for the Rock Creek mine in 2001, but the Rock Creek Alliance successfully challenged it in court and the permit was revoked in 2010.  Recently, the Forest Service released a Supplemental EIS (SEIS) for the mine to address analyses of the mine plan that the court found deficient. 

The SEIS presented a new mine plan that the mining company wants approved. Unfortunately, the analyses of potential impacts from many aspects of the mining operation--from metals leaching and acid mine drainage to dewatering of wilderness lakes and streams are still deficient.  The technology for storing mine tailings is outdated and unsafe, and the impacts of the long-term accumulation of metals in Lake Pend Oreille have not been addressed.  These are but a few of the problems.

In the coming months, the Forest Service will be considering whether to issue a new permit.  If authorization is granted for the first phase of the mine, the Alliance will be back in court.  When all else fails, we enter the courtroom where we have had considerable success. Through favorable rulings, two permits for the discharge of mine wastewater have been revoked.  Even if the Forest Service issues a permit for the mine to proceed, the full mine cannot be built without them.

In 2016, the mine remains a viable threat because of aggressive mine ownership. Public support is essential to our efforts to protect a rare ecosystem and unspoiled lake from the irreparable harm and perpetual impacts of the mine.  We hope you will join our efforts!