The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
The threat of a molybdenum mine that literally hung over Crested Butte’s Elk Avenue is officially gone. Thanks to 47 years of relentless work and hundreds of smart, passionate people, a document called a Mineral Extinguishment Agreement along with detailed conservation easements have put in place the legal documents to eliminate, to “extinguish,” the potential of mining Red Lady. Mission accomplished.
It is a victory for those who supported wild lands and clean water over the boom-and-bust economy of extracting ore from the belly of one of the grand sentinels of the North Valley. Not everyone always preferred that choice. Crested Butte, after all, started as a mining town. And when the possibility of a moly mine arose, some of the old-timers were just fine and even enthusiastic about the old family business coming back in to dominate the economy. But the newcomers had come to adopt Crested Butte as their home and home was something to protect. And they did. The fighting spirit has since been engrained as part of the Crested Butte character and legacy.
When I arrived here in the ‘80s, the fight was in the middle stages. I met the people who had crushed the initial mining offensive and was blown away by how smart they were…and how much fun they seemed to be having sticking it to the mining company. I’ve always appreciated the smarts but came to especially love the element of taking their fight seriously but having fun while doing it. They marched, hiked, wrote clever songs, organized parties, made their way into the national consciousness, raised a glass and stood up to power with a smile on their faces, all as part of the effort to fight corporate arrogance.
These small-town warriors fought the battles in legal courts and in the court of public opinion. They came up with intelligent arguments that flummoxed the mining executives and ultimately were precedent setting. For example, it was Crested Butte that paved the way for the courts to validate that the town should have controls over the watershed that supplies drinking water to its residents. That was huge. Others took the George Hayduke route and poked the mining company in the shadows. No one knows all that might have been done but the legend of the flares adorning Red Lady Bowl on a winter’s night with a F*ck Amax message lives on as one of the climaxes of the fight and part of the legend of Crested Butte.
They figured out how to court important politicians and celebrities. They made the major national papers and other media and were portrayed as righteous warriors in a David versus Goliath battle…and they were. And like David, they carried a sling shot of passion that, as of August 29, proved lethal.
A strong shout out to those who started the fight along with those that finished it. Taking almost five decades, smart also needed to be relentless and even at times plodding…and the community was. David doesn’t often beat Goliath, but in this case, that rare outcome is what was signed, sealed and delivered on August 29, 2024. It is a victory for this community and an inspiration for righteous warriors everywhere trying to wage the good fight.
As in any long battle, there was of course some luck involved. The price of molybdenum crashing at a crucial point in the fight was big. The expansion in the tourism/amenity and second homeowner economy that attracted influential people who did not want a mine in their playground was another. The biggest piece of luck might have been the eventual acquisition of the mining rights by a global mining giant whose executives sincerely decided (and could afford) that it would accept its responsibilities and work toward remediation of the mining site instead of the pursuit of the ore. Kudos to them as well. All these pieces of luck factored into the end of the conflict.
One constant I’ve heard from the Crested Buttians who jumped in the early fight was that the issue provided purpose. It provided those in the community something more than hiking or skiing or recreating with friends. It provided a reason to protect all of that, while fighting the good fight against several shady corporations to protect a quality of life along with the air, water and land of the Red Lady that towers above Elk Avenue.
The present-day CB seems to have shifted its purpose more internally — toward mitigating the impacts of that tourism and amenity-based economy and figuring out how to allow those working here to affordably live near their work, righteous causes worth fighting for as well. The lesson of the Red Lady fight might be to remember that the community should not be fighting one another, and that the path to success includes interesting, clever ideas and a sense of fun while figuring out hard problems. That doesn’t always seem to be the case here at the moment.
The official Red Lady victory is a well-deserved feather in the cap of this high mountain community. And the community will celebrate with a street party next month. Like Crested Butte’s fighting spirit, celebrating is also part of the community legend. See you on Elk Avenue October 4.
—Mark Reaman
