More details of ID cobalt mine ‘deal’

Earlier we had a conversation about the Idaho Conservation League’s decision to cut a deal green-lighting a cobalt mine near Salmon, Idaho.  Details of that deal were promised today (Monday) :

Formation Capital and Idaho Conservation League Reach Agreement on Conservation Program – marketwire

Mine, environmentalists hail ID cobalt mine deal – Todd Dvorak – AP

It appears that the company has agreed to post the bond the Forest Service was asking for and contribute $150,000 annually to watershed restoration projects for which the ICL and the mining company will meet annually to solicit suggestions from agencies and tribes and distribute monies.  In exchage ICL will not litigate and will highlight the positives of the mine in the media.

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Later-

Brian Ertz posted above. This is my addition . . . Ralph Maughan

The article below was put up on the Idaho Statesman web site at 11:30 PM Monday (by Rocky Barker).

Mine company attracts a green partner. The Idaho Conservation League says it was won over by a commitment to cleanup at the new cobalt mine. By Rocky Barker. Edition Date: 08/19/08.

An interesting new items from Barker’s piece. An appeal of the project comes not from a conservation group but other mining companies. Barker wrote that Noranda and three other mining companies who are responsible for cleaning up the nearby old Blackbird cobalt mine have appealed.

The waters from the new mine and the old bleeding mine all run into Blackbird Creek. A spokeman for Noranda said that they can’t distinguish an increase in pollution by its source. Therefore, if Formation Capital’s mine causes an increase in pollution it can’t separated from the continuing historic pollution and  all 4 companies. will end up being responsible for it.

Germany hears the call of the wild as wolves return after 200 years

Good news from Germany!

Germany hears the call of the wild as wolves return after 200 years. By David Wroe. News.scotsman.com.

Trapping of wolverines continues in Montana

The trapping season on this rare, probably endangered animal, will continue this winter in Montana, the only state with a season on wolverine. There are only about 500 wolverine in the lower 48 states.

The Bush/Kempthorne Interior Department rejected endangered species status based on their highly   questionable legal notion that a species can’t be endangered in the United States if there is a viable population of an animal outside the U.S. (in this case Canada).

I think, along with others, that this violates the clear language of the Act.

Trapping of wolverines continues in Montana. By Susan Gallagher. Associated Press writer.

As suspected the “bigfoot remains” are a fake

“Bigfoot” fails DNA test. Science News Daily.

Bits of DNA that were provided to researchers turned out to be a little bit of human DNA and 96% opossum.

This story about the bigfoot remains, supposedly discovered in Georgia, was posted to our long-running thread, “Bear or Bigfoot.“