| EPA Responds to Amigos Bravos' Lawsuit |
| In a predictable maneuver, the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) response to our Clean Water Act lawsuit against them was a "Motion to Dismiss." Motions to Dismiss have become so routine that our attorneys at the Western Environmental Law Center (WELC) were already preparing the counter motion when we received the EPA's June 15, 1999, legal memo.
Amigos Bravos and co-plaintiffs, New Mexico Citizens for Clean Air and Water, filed suit against EPA on March 24, 1999, for its failure to enforce the federal Clean Water Act by allowing the Molycorp molybdenum mine's continued pollution of the Red River near Questa. EPA's February 13, 1998, report on Molycorp documents a direct groundwater connection between the mine's 300 million tons of waste rock and the springs which pour into the Red River below. The report also finds that the waste rock constitutes a "point source" of pollution, and under the Clean Water Act must be regulated by EPA to limit the discharge of pollutants into the river. In over 30 years of operation, Molycorp has never had an EPA permit for the waste rock piles' discharge. Based on this EPA report documenting Molycorp's pollution of the Red River, our suit alleges that the agency must either prohibit the illegal discharge or force Molycorp to comply with a water-quality protection permit to ensure that pollutants remain within environmentally safe limits.
EPA's Motion to Dismiss makes no mention of the pollution from the mine's waste rock piles, an issue at the core of their February, 1998, report. But the agency still has an opportunity to address that matter--and the substance of our suit--as it drafts Molycorp's NPDES (National Pollution Discharge Elimination system) permit renewal. It is possible that while the attorneys file motions and counter motions, EPA could issue the new permit to include restriction of mine discharge from the waste rock piles, in which case the object of our lawsuit will be met. |
| Petition to Revoke Unocal's Corporate Charter |
| With the support of dozens of environmental and human rights organizations, Amigos Bravos recently helped revive a petition calling for the state of California to revoke the corporate charter of Unocal (Molycorp's parent company) for global human rights and environmental violations.
The coalition submitted the original petition to California's Attorney General on September 10, 1998, citing a litany of Unocal's environmental violations in California: 82 potential "Superfund" or toxic sites; hundreds of violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act; unethical treatment of US workers; deception of the courts, stockholders, and the public; and the undermining of US policy abroad. The petition alleges that Unocal has been complicit in atrocious human rights violations including forced labor and relocation, rape, and murder perpetrated by the governments of Afghanistan and Burma with whom Unocal has business ties.
With additional information about Molycorp's ongoing pollution of the Red River near Questa, the revived petition was submitted to California's new Attorney General on April 19, 1999. "If they were baseball players or convicted individuals in California, [Unocal] would have gone down under 'three strikes and you're out,'" says Professor Robert Benson of the International Law Project for Human, Economic & Environmental Defense, which drew up the petition.
For further information, see "Latest Developments" on our Molycorp Watch web site at www.newmex.com/amigosbravos/ molycorp.html. An October 2, 1998, US Government report corroborating some of the charges can be found at www.dol.gov/dol/ilab/publicmedia/reports/ofr/burma/main.html. |
| Action Alert -Mining Act Extension |
| It may well be the first and last time we agree with Molycorp on anything. Though we strive to build consensus on river issues, the Molycorp molybdenum mine near Questa, New Mexico, has never been amenable to negotiation. Nevertheless, along with several other environmental groups and state agencies, we have reached an agreement with Molycorp and other mines in the state on a proposed extension to a permitting deadline under the New Mexico Mining Act.
Due to the complexity of the permitting issues, several large New Mexico mines cannot meet the current permitting deadline on December 31, 1999. Concerned that rushing the process would result in inadequate environmental protection, state agencies initiated negotiations to extend the deadline. Missing the deadline could result in forced shutdowns, but under the extension, miners would not lose their jobs.
Since the 1999 deadline is already an extension of the original 1997 deadline, we were initially opposed to another extension. We quickly realized that industry representatives would secure an extension under their own terms if Amigos Bravos and other public interest groups were not involved in the negotiations. We managed to include in the extension agreement stipulations and time lines that will ensure industry accountability.
The proposal for the extension will be considered at a public hearing before the New Mexico Mining Commission at 9:10 am on Wednesday, August 25, 1999, in Room #322 of the State Capitol Building in Santa Fe. Anyone who cares about the impacts of mines on our rivers, landscapes, and communities should plan to attend. Contact our office for more information.
In other Molycorp news, the Environmental Protection Agency has begun a serious evaluation of the mine site and a stretch of the Red River as potential Superfund Cleanup Sites. Besides vindicating claims that the mine site is the primary source of pollution of the Red River, Superfund designation would also make Molycorp solely liable for all cleanup costs.
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