Grass Valley, CA January 20, 2009 - Today, Claim-GV, an organization of concerned citizens formed to review the impacts of reopening the Idaho Maryland Mine (IMM), the associated ceramics plant, and ancillary projects, submitted their comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the IMM to the City of Grass Valley.
In summary, if the Idaho-Maryland Mine in Grass Valley is reopened, the mine will pollute our air, put our water at risk, and expose nearby homes and businesses to toxic chemicals, loss of well water, noise, blasting, and traffic. The public has not been informed of the true extent of these impacts.
CLAIM-GV has extensively reviewed the DEIR document in conjunction with our volunteer members. After the initial review of the document, CLAIM-GV felt that it was in the best interest of the citizens of Grass Valley and Nevada County to retain legal counsel to ensure that Idaho Maryland Mining Corporation (IMMC) complies with all the safeguards built into the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Thus CLAIM-GV retained the firm of Shute, Mihaly and Weinberger (SMW), experts in CEQA law. SMW has drafted CLAIM-GV's formal response letter to the City of Grass Valley, acting as the lead agency for this DEIR process. You can access a copy of this letter on CLAIM-GV's website at http://www.claim-gv.org/DEIRcomments.html
In the opinion of CLAIM-GV, the DEIR is significantly deficient in fully describing the impacts that this project would have on our local environment. The purpose of an EIR is to allow the community and the lead agency to evaluate the impacts of a project upon the environment. This project has impacts including worsening local air quality, water quality risks, extensive use of hazardous materials on site, significant heavy truck traffic on local roads and through the middle of Grass Valley, loss of well water for surrounding properties, blasting, and noise to name a few. However, the details of these impacts, and the details of many of the proposed mitigations are not presented in the DEIR as required by CEQA. CLAIM-GV is troubled that IMMC has allowed a document with numerous deficiencies to be distributed. If this is an example of the care which IMMC purports to exhibit about our community then it is really a wakeup call.
We are not alone. Several other local organizations (STAinNC, Sierra Fund, and Banner Mountain Homeowners Association, among others) have also reviewed this document and reached similar conclusions.
It is CLAIM-GV's fervent hope that IMMC sees fit to revise the DEIR, incorporate the revised mitigations and project plans that have been suggested by all of the individuals and organizations who have submitted comments, and then resubmit the updated DEIR to the community for review. In the event that IMMC decides to proceed with the current DEIR, CLAIM-GV will take all steps needed to protect our community.
CLAIM-GV wholeheartedly supports bringing high technology jobs, alternative fuel R&D, solar cell development and many other 21st century jobs into our area. Now is the time for Grass Valley and Nevada County to come together and aggressively seek to capture as much new green industry as possible given the imminent federal funding being made available for these opportunities. CLAIM-GV is certain that Grass Valley and Nevada County will be better off in both the short term and the long term without the IMMC project.
