If you happened to live in Montana in 1996, you might recall Initiative 122, the Clean Water Initiative. That initiative sought to restrict the waste water discharges of hardrock mines. Part of the mining industry’s effort to defeat I-122 was a television ad that featured one of the industry’s minions drinking from a mountain stream into which the Beal Mountain mine discharged its effluent. Odds are, you won’t see that ad filmed again anytime soon.

Monitoring downstream from the Beal Mountain mine now shows cyanide levels as high as 23 parts per billion (ppb) and selenium levels at 6 ppb. Both of these levels exceed Montana’s water quality standards and are toxic to aquatic life. This pollution has been occurring for some time, and now the Montana Department of Environmental Quality is considering a discharge permit application from Beal Mountain that will allow this level of pollution to continue.

The Beal Mountain mine is just the latest chapter in the shameful history of the Pegasus Gold Corp. and the failure of modern mining methods. Owned by Pegasus, the Beal Mountain mine was permitted in 1988. The cyanide heap-leach mine was hailed as a model mine by the industry and government agencies. However, when Pegasus filed for bankruptcy in 1998, state and federal agencies were left with the responsibility for millions of dollars in water treatment and reclamation costs.

Montana has already spent the $6.3 million reclamation bond that was intended to cover the cost of reclaiming the mine. DEQ estimates at least another $5 to 7 million is needed for long-term water treatment and maintenance at the mine site.

Meanwhile, the pollution continues. The old leach pad at Beal is filled with 65 million gallons of “stuff” contaminated by cyanide, selenium, and other heavy metals. The agency proposes to pump the “stuff” from the leach pad, partially treat it, and then discharge it into ground water—ground water that is connected to surface water.

This proposal has a number of problems. The concentration of cyanide and selenium in the discharge will exceed water quality standards. Contrary to the Montana constitution and law, DEQ believes it does not need to apply for a waiver of the State’s nondegradation policy for this discharge. DEQ simply intends to use a “mixing zone” to dilute the pollution to acceptable levels. Unfortunately, by the time water quality standards are met, 3.5 miles of streams will have been sacrificed to dilute the pollution.

The real rub is that the proposed discharge permit is merely an attempt to justify what is already happening illegally at the mine site. Discharges into Minnesota and German Gulches and Beef Strait Creek began more than a year ago. Even though what is currently happening violates standards, DEQ is considering approving a discharge permit that perpetuates the current condition.

The situation at Beal is intractable. Regardless, DEQ cannot simply condone the current situation and allow the pollution to continue. Ultimately, one hopes DEQ is finally learning the lesson that the promises of modern mining are often merely fool’s gold.