SYRCL applauds the Planning Commission for its unanimous vote to not recommend the reopening of the Idaho-Maryland Mine and, more importantly, not recommend certification of the Final Environmental Impact Report. However, the fight against the mine is not over.
The Nevada County Board of Supervisors will consider the Planning Commission’s recommendation no earlier than August 2023.
Aaron Zettler-Mann, Interim Executive Director and Watershed Science Director at the South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL), holds a PhD in fluvial geomorphology. The following is an Op-Ed he wrote for the local news outlets:
The final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the proposed Idaho-Maryland Mine fails to adequately address the valid critiques of the draft EIR. Instead, shoddy science, bad computer models, baseless assumptions, and mountains of text hide the truth – the Idaho-Maryland Mine is bad for the environment and bad for our community.
In 2019, Rise Gold Corp., a private company based out of Canada, submitted plans to the Nevada County Planning Department outlining a proposal to reopen the long-abandoned Idaho-Maryland Mine – hidden away beneath the vibrant community of Grass Valley, an archive of toxic mine waste and an intricate underground tunnel system dating back to the Gold Rush Era of the 1800s.
As SYRCL’s 21st annual Wild and Scenic Film Festival winds down, we are looking back in awe of the immense showing…