Occasionally, Crested Butte News columnist Denis Hall and I have the same thing on our minds. That’s the case this week with the Red Lady issue. We both attended the Crested Butte Public Policy Forum discussion on Thursday, July 3, that featured Western Resource Advocates executive director Karin Sheldon.  
Hall does a good job summarizing the issue on page 54, so I won’t go into those details here. I want to talk about two items: one, the perception that this community isn’t united in its opposition to the mine, and two, the apparent subsiding of urgency on the Red Lady fight.
Twice in public formats, U.S. Energy CEO and president Keith Larsen has indicated that many members of the Gunnison County community are willing to consider mine plans. In an interview with NASDAQ in May, Larsen said, “There are a lot of rational people in the community that are willing to look at this.” He added that his company has asked a local environmental group (presumably High Country Citizens’ Alliance) to join them in creating an environmentally sound mining plan. “They’ve turned us down,” Larsen said.
From a public relations standpoint, it’s a decent move. Larsen is saying that most sensible folks want to take a look at this mine proposal, and those who don’t are part of the “radical” environmental fringe, opposed to everything.
Of course, the view looks slightly different from my office in Crested Butte. From here, it appears that very few people are willing to entertain a mine, with Crested Butte Mountain Resort, the town of Mt. Crested Butte, HCCA, and the more conservative Red Lady Coalition stoutly against it. (Due to their oversight roles, Crested Butte and Gunnison County cannot publicly take a stand on this issue.) This month, Crested Butte/Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce director Christi Matthews says her organization will finally publicly announce its stance on the mine—and we can hope that with a mine’s potential to devastate our tourism economy, the Chamber is against any proposal as well.
The point of Mr. Larsen’s game face, it would seem, is to attract potential investors in order to fill the shoes left by Kobex Resources Ltd. in March. Red Lady Coalition board president Bill Ronai said on Thursday night that his group’s focus will now be on spreading Crested Butte’s side of the story in the financial world—both nationally and internationally.
Second, I’ve heard some talk around town about how the urgency seems to be subsiding in the fight. How do those opposed to the mine continually infuse energy into it?
This week, I spoke to someone who mused that there is a natural ebb and flow to all causes. I believe it also follows the news cycles and there honestly hasn’t been much movement on the Red Lady story as U.S. Energy pursues engineering issues for their plan of operations and launches baseline studies of the area.
I’ve also heard people wonder about how we can spend so much time and ink beating each other up over Snodgrass and not have the same amount of passion when it comes to saving our watershed from being damaged.
Well, it’s not as sexy and it no longer feels as immediate.
Snodgrass will likely be within the NEPA process in the next six months—that’s immediate. Elected officials, friends and neighbors disagree over it and they’re passionate about it—in the news business that makes for interesting reading.
On the Red Lady issue, U.S. Energy has made few recent moves as it continues to fish for a funding partner. In the meantime, the company’s target date for submitting its plan of operations to the Forest Service gets pushed back. That’s not immediate.
In general, folks in the Upper East River Valley are on the same page about Mt. Emmons. We agree it’s a bad idea. So there isn’t really a good reason to send a letter to the editor, or even attend a march. I believe the term is “preaching to the choir.”
So it’s time to take our fight and that passion to a bigger stage—out into a world where people don’t necessarily agree that our backyard is worth saving over their ability to obtain molybdenum at a cheaper price. We need to be on the world stage shouting about this issue.
Two events are coming up that will help us make progress toward these goals of keeping our verve and shouting from the rooftops. On Saturday, July 12, Senator Ken Salazar will speak at the Public Policy Forum at 7 p.m. at the Crested Butte Community School. As Hall points out, Salazar could prove influential in whether the 1872 Mining Law reforms are passed by the Senate.
Second up, the man who injected energy into the first Red Lady fight will be in town. W Mitchell will speak on Tuesday, July 15 at 8 p.m. at the Crested Butte Community School. HCCA and the Red Lady Coalition are jointly sponsoring this evening.

Are all the mining claims valid?

Two political heavyweights are getting directly involved in the Lucky Jack-Mt. Emmons molybdenum mine issue. United States Congressmen John Salazar and Mark Udall, both of Colorado, have jointly sent a letter to the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Bureau of Land Management asking the agencies to make sure the Lucky Jack project proponent, U.S. Energy Corp, has valid mining claims. The company has 300 patented claims and more than 5,000 acres of unpatented claims. Read More »

Public meeting on aquatic center Monday

After nine public hearings, eight months, two versions and a land swap later, the town of Mt. Crested Butte is finally wrangling in the plans for Mountaineer Square North, the last phase of the base area redevelopment at Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR). Read More »

“What we were asking was pretty basic”

A state board last week denied a request from local conservation group High Country Citizens’ Alliance (HCCA) to review a state decision approving the construction of a controversial exploratory mine tunnel on Mt. Emmons. Read More »

Company reports on plans for remainder of 2008

U.S. Energy Corp. is determined to move ahead to develop a molybdenum mine on Mt. Emmons, just outside of Crested Butte, the company told investors this week. Read More »

Searching for causes of pollution in Coal Creek

The Coal Creek Watershed Coalition is going underground… literally. The organization says it plans to start studying groundwater to determine sources of contamination into Coal Creek, which flows from the Kebler Pass area through the town of Crested Butte and empties into the Slate River. Read More »

Mt. Crested Butte looks at pool and traffic plans

After nine public hearings the development plans for Mountaineer Square North are moving forward through the town of Mt. Crested Butte’s planning process. Last fall the plans were beset by public concerns meeting after meeting, until Crested Butte Mountain Resort officials decided to go back to the drawing board to come up with what community members and town officials alike have heralded as a much better version.

Read More »

Legislator credits local involvement

A state bill designed to shed more light on the mining industry’s prospecting activities in Colorado has passed the State Senate and is now before the Colorado House of Representatives. Read More »

On Monday night, I attended an interesting community meeting organized by some concerned Crested Butte citizens about a proposed molybdenum mine on neighboring Mt. Emmons.
The meeting hosted speakers from two organizations devoted to fighting the development of a mine, the High Country Citizens’ Alliance and the Red Lady Coalition, along with other residents who each provided a unique perspective on the mountain and mining.
During the evening, a picture emerged of how this battle is being waged beyond the regulatory environment being created by town and county officials.
HCCA has taken up the responsibility of monitoring U.S. Energy (and formerly Kobex Resources) as it attempts to permit mining operations on the mountain. HCCA has a talented full-time staff with mining expertise, who are the watchdogs as this proposal moves forward. For example, the organization alerted the public of Kobex Resource’s plan to drill an exploratory tunnel in Mt. Emmons and announced their intention to contest it before the state Mined Land Reclamation Board. At the same time, HCCA is continuing its colorful campaigns—leading parades, selling prayer flags and bracelets with the Red Lady leading the charge.
The Red Lady Coalition has shouldered the long-term task of finding a permanent end to the threat of mining on Mt. Emmons. Coalition board member Denis Hall listed the group’s accomplishments since it formed last fall. Specifically, he cited the success of the “Big Bite” initiative, which brought a wide range of groups together to call the Forest Service to require full build-out disclosure from the mining company. He also spoke about the Coalition’s relationship with mining analysts from JP Morgan, its new relationship with the law firm DLA Piper, which he said has a pro bono budget of $54 million annually. “That blows my mind, those are the kinds of resources we didn’t have 30 years ago,” he said. Hall said the group is now working hard to attain its non-profit organization status and find another group willing to act as a financial pass-through so it could start fundraising in earnest.
Red Lady Coalition president Bill Ronai said the group is now attempting to convince U.S. Energy to leave. He said that if the community was to take responsibility for the water treatment facility, it would expect to get paid. Ronai said the group would be asking U.S. Energy to open its books to reveal how much it costs to operate and maintain the water treatment facility. However, he could not go into specifics. “I apologize if you think you’re not getting all the message—you’re not—but there’s a reason for it,” he said. Hall was a bit more forthcoming. He said the strategy would be multi-prong and could involve the turnover of the water treatment plant, the purchase of 365 acres of private land and the withdraw from mineral entry of 5,000 acres of unpatented lands through congressional action.
With Monday night’s meeting, a third group of people has emerged. Loosely organized with no identified leaders, the group is hoping to engage citizens in “creative actions” designed to give people a way to contribute to the fight that goes a step beyond monetary donations and letter-writing campaigns. The group’s first effort will be a candlelight processional on Monday, April 21 to show solidarity with the Town Council’s work to revise its protective watershed ordinance.
I think all these groups are performing important tasks and doing an admirable job. None of the groups is perfect—each has some rough edges that need to be worked out. I’d urge HCCA and RLC, particularly the latter, to communicate as thoroughly and efficiently as possible its plans. News that’s been talked about around town shouldn’t wait five weeks before it’s made official. While there’s a danger of tipping your hand, there’s also a risk the public will grow disenchanted if they’re not part of the process. For the new group of citizens, I’d urge them to walk the talk—if you say you want to hear all views on a subject, be respectful of the answers you get.
Most importantly, I’d urge these groups to be upfront and in true communication with each other. As middle school student Jackson Melnick said on Monday night, “We need one clear vision. I think that’s what it’s going to take to be over once and for all.” I couldn’t agree more.
-Aleesha Towns