Our Lake is at Stake…

Dear Editor,

I wrote the following letter to our Congressional representatives in Washington, D.C. (Sen Crapo, Sen Risch, Rep Labrador). They need to hear from us soon, please write.

Dear Sir:

I just read that the upcoming National Defense Authorization Act includes a provision to exclude hard rock mineral mining from the NEPA (National Environmental Protection Act) process.

I live next to Lake Pend Oreille in Bonner County. Hecla’s proposed Rock Creek copper-silver mine sits upstream from Lake Pend Oreille. For years I have worked to protect the water quality of the lake from the pollution that would be dumped into the main tributary to the lake from the mine. The NEPA process is crucial to keep our water clean. Since the mine is in Montana, yet Idaho will have to deal with the pollution, federal regulation is essential.

I urge you to vote against Representative Amodei’s rider, and work towards a sensible bill that does not imperil our children’s future by reckless disregard to established law.

Jean Gerth
Sandpoint

While we have you ...

... if you appreciate that access to the news, opinion, humor, entertainment and cultural reporting in the Sandpoint Reader is freely available in our print newspaper as well as here on our website, we have a favor to ask. The Reader is locally owned and free of the large corporate, big-money influence that affects so much of the media today. We're supported entirely by our valued advertisers and readers. We're committed to continued free access to our paper and our website here with NO PAYWALL - period. But of course, it does cost money to produce the Reader. If you're a reader who appreciates the value of an independent, local news source, we hope you'll consider a voluntary contribution. You can help support the Reader for as little as $1.

You can contribute at either Paypal or Patreon.

Contribute at Patreon Contribute at Paypal

You may also like...

Close [x]

Want to support independent local journalism?

The Sandpoint Reader is our town's local, independent weekly newspaper. "Independent" means that the Reader is locally owned, in a partnership between Publisher Ben Olson and Keokee Co. Publishing, the media company owned by Chris Bessler that also publishes Sandpoint Magazine and Sandpoint Online. Sandpoint Reader LLC is a completely independent business unit; no big newspaper group or corporate conglomerate or billionaire owner dictates our editorial policy. And we want the news, opinion and lifestyle stories we report to be freely available to all interested readers - so unlike many other newspapers and media websites, we have NO PAYWALL on our website. The Reader relies wholly on the support of our valued advertisers, as well as readers who voluntarily contribute. Want to ensure that local, independent journalism survives in our town? You can help support the Reader for as little as $1.