Wounding the West : Montana, mining, and the environment / David Stiller.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stiller, David, 1947-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mineral industries--Environmental aspects--Montana--Mike Horse Mine Region.

Mineral industries.

Water--Pollution--Montana--Blackfoot River.

Water.

Hazardous waste site remediation--Montana--Mike Horse Mine.

Hazardous waste site remediation.

Mike Horse Mine (Mont.)--History.

Mike Horse Mine (Mont.).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (230 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, c2000.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Federal policy toward hardrock mining remains largely unchanged since the passage of the General Mining Law of 1872. That legislation was originally intended to promote settlement and economic development of the American West. A century and a quarter later, the region no longer requires congressional coddling, yet more than half a million mines and mill sites remain abandoned throughout the western states. These sites have created 180,000 acres of polluted lakes and reservoirs and 12,000 miles of contaminated streams and rivers. Not only did the 1872 law essentially give the land and minerals to miners and mining companies and it continues to do so today the law also required no mine reclamation or water quality protection. State mining laws likewise required little or no reclamation. Wounding the West traces the role of hardrock mining and its relationship with the American West by following the environmental history of one Montana mine, the Mike Horse, from its 1898 discovery, through its heyday in the 1940s, subsequent abandonment, and eventual cleanup under the coercion of a state law that many would consider ill-suited for abandoned mines. David Stiller argues that taxpayers should treat mining companies like the for-profit enterprises they are and insist that the hardrock mining industry pay a fair royalty for extracted minerals and then put this funding to work correcting the industry s worst historical abuses."

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Beginnings

Discovery

Hard Times and Early Signs

Rebirth

The Dam

An Open Portal

Planting Fish

When Giants Die

Cleanup

The Divide

Notes

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 183-206) and index.

ISBN:

1-280-46611-1

9786610466115

0-8032-0681-X

OCLC:

50698414