montanore Archives - Montana Environmental Information Center - MEIC https://meic.org/tag/montanore/ Clean and healthful. It's your right, our mission. Fri, 26 Sep 2025 20:31:10 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://meic.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/cropped-MEIC_whitesmall-32x32.png montanore Archives - Montana Environmental Information Center - MEIC https://meic.org/tag/montanore/ 32 32 The Libby Exploration Project: Give an Inch, and Hecla Will Take a Mile https://meic.org/the-libby-exploration-project-give-an-inch-and-hecla-will-take-a-mile/ Wed, 10 Sep 2025 14:05:56 +0000 https://meic.org/?p=39522 by Ben Catton  Hecla Mining Corporation’s plans to mine next to and underneath the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness are shortsighted and rife with pitfalls. The company has an arms-length rap sheet of bad behavior, including citations and forced closures for workplace safety violations, conducting unfair labor practices that led to a strike, poisoning water with cyanide …

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]]> Montanore Mine Receives FAST-41 Designation https://meic.org/montanore-mine-receives-fast-41-designation/ Thu, 05 Jun 2025 14:16:55 +0000 https://meic.org/?p=38680 by Derf Johnson Earlier this year, the U.S. Forest Service released its draft environmental assessment (EA) for the proposed Montanore Mine’s newest exploration project (See the March 2025 issue of Down to Earth for a rundown). The proposed mine, owned by Idaho-based Hecla Mining since 2016, would run directly adjacent to and underneath the Cabinet …

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]]> Cabinet Mountains: Forest Service Releases Draft EA on Mining https://meic.org/cabinet-mountains-forest-service-releases-draft-ea-on-mining/ Sun, 30 Mar 2025 14:02:20 +0000 https://meic.org/?p=38221 By Derf Johnson For decades now, MEIC and our partners have been fighting against a set of proposed silver and copper mines that will be directly adjacent to and tunnel underneath the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness in northwest Montana. Frankly, the mines (Montanore and Rock Creek) are a terrible idea. They are being proposed in the …

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]]> Protect the Cabinet Mountains https://meic.org/protect-the-cabinet-mountains/ Wed, 19 Feb 2025 17:30:41 +0000 https://meic.org/?p=37689 The Kootenai National Forest is currently accepting public comments regarding its environmental review of proposed mining activities in the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness area in Northwest Montana. The environmental review will examine the proposed “Libby Exploration Project,” which is a proposal by Idaho-based Hecla mining to conduct additional mining exploration at the proposed Montanore mine. If …

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]]> Press Release: Tribes, Conservation Groups Vow Continued Fight Against Irresponsible Mining After “Bad Actor” Retirement https://meic.org/press-release-tribes-conservation-groups-vow-continued-fight-against-irresponsible-mining-after-bad-actor-retirement/ Thu, 11 Jul 2024 18:39:36 +0000 https://meic.org/?p=35257 Phillips Baker, Jr., retires from Hecla Mining Company leaving unreclaimed mining disasters behind   CONTACTS Shiloh Hernandez, Earthjustice, 406-426-9649, shernandez@earthjustice.org Bonnie Gestring, Earthworks, 406-546-8386, bgestring@earthworks.org Derf Johnson, Montana Environmental Information Center. 406-581-4634, djohnson@meic.org     HELENA, MT – Phillips Baker, Jr., CEO, president, and director of Hecla Mining Company, abruptly retired in a victory for …

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]]> Judge Orders Release of Gianforte Comms with Bad Actor Mining Corporation https://meic.org/judge-orders-release-of-gianforte-comms-with-bad-actor-mining-corporation/ Fri, 15 Sep 2023 15:17:34 +0000 https://meic.org/?p=32554 By Derf Johnson Over the past few years, Gov. Greg Gianforte has wrongfully withheld public documents from an official document request by attempting to utilize an incredibly novel legal theory that a judge characterized as “completely unmoored from the text, history, and purpose underlying both Article II, Section 9 and the implementing public records statutes.” …

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]]> Mining Beneath the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness: An Update https://meic.org/mining-beneath-the-cabinet-mountains-wilderness-an-update/ Mon, 05 Dec 2022 16:04:12 +0000 https://meic.org/?p=29047 By Derf Johnson Readers of Down to Earth and long-time MEIC members are likely quite familiar with the proposed Montanore and Rock Creek Mines in far northwest Montana. These mines, which threaten an incredibly unique wildlife refuge, a Wilderness area, a sacred Indigenous space, and a portion of the great North American inland temperate rainforest, …

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]]> MEIC and Montana’s Progressive Constitution https://meic.org/meic-and-montanas-progressive-constitution/ Mon, 05 Sep 2022 19:54:35 +0000 https://meic.org/?p=29183 By Derf Johnson This year marks the 50th anniversary of Montana’s Constitution, an incredibly ambitious and remarkably forward-thinking document that has served Montana well. The document modernized Montana’s government and took decision-making out of smoke-filled corporate boardrooms, placing it instead in the hands of the people. It also declared a series of rights in Article …

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]]> Tribes, Partner Organizations Sue DEQ Over “Bad Actor” Law https://meic.org/tribes-partner-organizations-sue-deq-over-bad-actor-law/ Sun, 19 Dec 2021 22:59:46 +0000 https://meic.org/?p=23953 by Derf Johnson One of Gov. Gianforte’s more brazen decisions in his first year in office, which will have broad ranging implications for Montana’s land and people, is the dismissal of the “Bad Actor” enforcement action against Phillips S. Baker and Hecla Mining Co. Gov. Gianforte’s decision to let Baker off “scot free,” essentially allowing …

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]]> Tribes, Conservation Groups File Legal Action To Compel Montana DEQ to Enforce “Bad Actor” Law Against Hecla Mining Executive https://meic.org/tribes-conservation-groups-file-legal-action-to-compel-montana-deq-to-enforce-bad-actor-law-against-hecla-mining-executive-deliver-petition-to-gov-gianforte-protect-montan/ Wed, 10 Nov 2021 18:20:41 +0000 https://meic.org/?p=23119 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 10, 2021 Contacts: Andrew Werk Jr., President, Fort Belknap Indian Community, (406) 390-2650, andy.werk@ftbelknap.org Vernon Finley, Ksanka Elders Advisory Committee, (406) 471-4384, vernon.finley@cskt.org Bonnie Gestring, Earthworks, (406) 546-8386, bgestring@earthworks.org Derf Johnson, Montana Environmental Information Center, (406) 461-9546, djohnson@meic.org Mary Costello, Rock Creek Alliance (208) 610-4896, mc.costello5@gmail.com Andrew Gorder, Clark Fork Coalition, …

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