Engineering and Mining Journal - Whether the market is copper, gold, nickel, iron ore, lead/zinc, PGM, diamonds or other commodities, E&MJ takes the lead in projecting trends, following development and reporting on the most efficient operating pr
Page 38 of 83
CYANIDE REGULATIONS
pollution from the mine's tailings and acid drainage had contaminated the quality of water resources. The Tribe's central asser- tion was that the government had breached its trust responsibility to it by approving and permitting the mine, but failing to reclaim both mine sites in violation of NEPA and FLPMA. Various environmental groups alleged that the Zortman-Landusky mine complex experienced more than a dozen cyanide spills, including one that released approximately 50,000 gallons of cyanide solution contaminating the com- munity water supply.
The issue with this case was whether the federal government owes a specific or gen- eral trust obligation to tribes to take Indian interests into account in issuing mining per- mits. The court ruled that, no, the govern- ment did not owe a general trust obligation to take Tribe's interests into account regard- ing mine operations; nor did the government have specific trust obligations based on treaties or agreements with the Tribe. The government had no statutory duty to take discrete nondiscretionary actions under FLPMA, which might have supported a claim that the government had failed to act. And, as a threshold matter, the Tribe did not suffer injury for purposes of standing.
The Summitville spill in Colorado has had a long-lasting negative impact.
What makes this case significant is that nothing within any of the statutes or treaties offered by the Tribe imposed a specific duty on the federal government to manage non- tribal resources for the benefit of the Tribe. As a result, the Tribe had to rely on the Administrative Procedures Act for a private right of action, and the court found that under this Act they lacked standing. Nor did
the Tribe have a cognizable "failure to act" claim, because the Tribe could not assert that the government failed to take a discrete agency action it was legally required to take. In the minds of Montana voters, the Zortman mine, along with the Colorado Summitville disaster, became symbols of all that was wrong with cyanide in mining operations. Zortman in particular became
www.e-mj.com
FEBRUARY 2012 • E&MJ; 37
