Don’t let mining’s toxic legacy spoil Washington's Green River

Exploratory drilling for hardrock strip mining threatens Washington’s Green River. This mining would be on public lands on the flanks of Mount Saint Helens in Washington state, which would put wild steelhead and clean drinking water for downstream communities at risk. These threatened public lands were acquired by the U.S. Forest Service through the Land and Water Conservation Fund due to their great value to the American people for conservation and recreation. If exploratory drilling is permitted here, it could lead to a full-scale industrial mining operation in this pristine area. That would completely destroy Goat Mountain, including a treasured recreational trail with remarkable views of Mount Saint Helens, and likely pollute the Green River with toxic drilling additives or acid mine drainage. As the largest tributary of the North Fork Toutle River, the clean, cool waters of the Green River play an important role in downstream drinking water supplies. Those waters also support a local recreation economy and fisheries in the Cowlitz-Toutle River watershed. Stopping this mine is critical to ensuring that this wild area is preserved for future generations.

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The U.S. Forest Service has given its consent to allow exploratory mining, we must ask the Bureau of Land Management to protect this special place by denying the permit for this project and preventing future mining in the Green River Valley.

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Bureau of Land Management

Kristin

Bail

Bureau of Land Management

State Director

Jamie

Connell

Bureau of Land Management

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I am writing to ask you to protect the Green River, near Mount St. Helens, from proposed mining. This river is locally and nationally significant for recreation, important fish and wildlife habitat, and as a drinking water supply for approximately 13,000 residents in Kelso and Castle Rock. It is unconscionable that mining be permitted on these pristine public lands that were acquired for recreation and conservation purposes.

The Green River in southwest Washington provides exceptional backcountry recreation opportunities, including hiking, camping, hunting and horseback riding. The river flows through a national icon, the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, where the surrounding landscape was altered by the volcano’s 1980 eruption. Additionally, the Green River is a proposed Wild and Scenic River and a state-designated Wild Steelhead Gene Bank.

Further downstream, the Green River joins the North Fork of the Toutle River and the Cowlitz River where it contributes to the watershed’s multi-million dollar recreational fishery and supplies local communities with drinking water. Maintaining the high water quality of the Green River is essential to support the river’s resource values and the enjoyment of these treasured public lands and waters.

The Forest Service acquired the Green River valley with money from the Land and Water Conservation Fund (“LWCF”) – money intended to be used to promote conservation and recreation to the public. An industrial-scale hardrock mine would completely change the valley’s landscape, and risks polluting downstream waters with acid mine drainage and mining waste. A mine in this area is made even more dangerous due to its proximity to Mount St. Helens, a seismically active area for the volcano and earthquakes. Allowing hardrock mining exploration or development in the Green River Valley is dangerous and directly opposed to the conservation and recreation purposes for which this land was acquired.

It is due to the ongoing threat of hardrock mining in the Green River Valley that American Rivers has listed the Green-Toutle River as one of America’s Most Endangered Rivers® of 2017.

I cherish the Green-Toutle River for its fantastic backcountry recreational opportunities, essential habitat for wild steelhead and as a source of clean water. Your leadership is needed to safeguard these values for future generations. I join American Rivers and the Cascade Forest Conservancy in urging you to deny the permit for this harmful project and withdraw the Green River from mining.

Sincerely,

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