Stop Mining at Mount St. Helens

I join Willapa Hills Audubon Society and other Audubon chapters in asking the U.S. Forest Service to withdraw its decision to support exploratory drilling permits for Ascot Resources at Goat Mountain. The EA lists fourteen wildlife species of concern that would be disturbed by the six months of drilling—including Northern Spotted Owl, Pileated Woodpecker, and Bald Eagle. Dust and noise would also drive away birders, hikers, hunters, anglers and horse-riders in the area and less than two miles away in the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. USFS must take seriously its duty to protect conservation and recreation in this site, part of which was purchased with the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and the rest donated by The Trust for Public Lands.

Prospecting permits are the first regulatory steps before permitting a mine, and USFS can and should stop the process now. Any type of hardrock mine would irreparably destroy all recreation and conservation values of the site. In addition, this mining site’s location, only twelve miles from the crater and on the banks of the pristine Green River, is uniquely dangerous. The strong probability of eruptions and tremors over the life of a mine, especially its tailings pond, increases the risk of mining pollution. Toxic acid mine drainage or mine tailings would destroy salmon and steelhead runs and pollute the drinking water of downstream residents. This is no place for a mine!