[vc_row row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css_animation=””][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”5/6″][vc_column_text]by Chetanya Robinson • Aug 24, 2017 at 1:16 pm
The U.S. Forest Service just allowed a Canadian mining company to start exploratory drilling in a national forest 12 miles from Mount St. Helens, The Columbian reports.
The drilling will be relatively small-scale for now. The company, Ascot Resources Ltd. in Vancouver B.C., is authorized to drill 63 small holes, two to three inches in diameter, in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. The company is looking for copper, gold and molybdenum (commonly used in metal alloys).
The fear is that this will lead to further mining in the area, which is near the Green River, one of the most endangered rivers in the country.
Opposing the project are U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington, and according to Matt Little, executive director of the Cascade Forest Conservancy, more than 20 conservation and recreation groups.
If you’re just hearing about this, live in the area and want to submit your objection to the proposal…good luck with that. Starting today, the public will have 45 days to object to the proposal. Though only people who previously wrote comments on the proposal will have a chance to object.
Little of the Cascade Forest Conservancy told The Columbian: “I think it’s mind-boggling how the agency could totally ignore tens of thousands of citizens who’ve asked them to protect the Green River Valley and instead cater to the Canadian mining company.”
Visit the article: http://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/08/24/25375086/a-canadian-mining-company-just-got-approved-to-drill-near-mount-st-helens[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/12″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
