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Clinton deals to stop gold mine
August 12, 1996Web posted at: 5:00 p.m. EDT
JACKSON, Wyoming (CNN) -- President Clinton announced Monday a land-swap deal that halted plans for a gold mine 2 1/2 miles (4 km) outside Yellowstone National Park.
"Yellowstone is more precious than gold," said Clinton,
standing on a plain wooden platform in a meadow
8,400-feet high in the mountains. (64K AIFF or WAV sound)
The president, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and their daughter, Chelsea, are in Wyoming for a family vacation. The Clintons hiked in the park after the announcement.
The deal called for Crown Butte Mines Inc. to give up the New World Mine project -- which had been expected to produce at least $600 million in gold, silver and copper -- in exchange for a $65 million piece of federal property.
Crown Butte also agreed to put $22.5 million into escrow to clean up the site, where some mining took place before the company acquired it.
Environmentalists had assailed the mining project, saying the complex would irreparably damage Yellowstone, which sprawls across parts of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana.
"We believe because of the chemistry, the altitude and the proximity to Yellowstone, there is no way you can do this in an environmentally sound manner," said Robert Ekey of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition conservation group.
The project called for the construction of a 74-acre (30-hectare) reservoir to hold toxic waste from the complex. Such a reservoir -- and its accompanying dam -- inevitably would have contaminated Yellowstone's water system, the critics claimed.
Crown Butte has already spent about $37 million on the project. The White House said that the exchange property had not yet been chosen, but that a government task force would study the question over the next two weeks.
President Clinton flew over the mine site while on vacation last year. At that time, he put a two-year moratorium on fresh mining claims on property surrounding the New World project.
Related story:
- President vows to protect national parks - April 22, 1996
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