A federal district court’s Sept. 20 ruling that reinstated the Clinton administration’s 2001 ban on road construction in national forests should not block the J.R. Simplot Co.’s expansion of the Smoky Canyon Mine near the Idaho/Wyoming border, a Simplot spokesman said.
U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Laporte singled out the Simplot mine’s expansion into the 12,000 acre Sage Creek Roadless Area in overturning the Bush administration’s 2005 petition plan, under which states could develop their own plans for roadless areas and petition the U.S. Forest Service to implement them. By coincidence, Idaho Gov. Jim Risch announced his proposed changes to Forest Service management plans for 9.3 million acres of roadless areas in Idaho’s national forests the same day Laporte made her ruling. The Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service granted Simplot permits for exploratory drilling three years ago, and later upheld that decision following a series of public hearings.
Environmental groups have hailed Laporte’s decision, which they say – if it’s upheld – could halt Simplot’s Smoky Canyon mine expansion in the previously protected Sage Creek area, and block the extraction of more than four million tons of phosphate ore that would be used in fertilizer production at Simplot’s Pocatello processing plant.
Fred Zerza, a Simplot spokesman, disputes that. “Under either the Clinton or Bush roadless rules, we have a legal right to develop the Smoky Canyon property. Our existing right precedes the effective date of either of those rules,” Zerza said, noting the Forest Service and BLM upheld Simplot’s expansion plans despite appeals by environmental groups. “So, the bottom line is none of this as far as the courts’ decisions – and there are several out there and probably several more in the future – is an issue as far as expansion of the Smoky Canyon Mine is concerned. We just don’t anticipate any impact on the current process for Smoky Canyon.”
Simplot expects the mine expansion’s final Environmental Impact Statement will be issued in December or January as scheduled, Zerza said. “This is probably not the last litigation connected with this issue. We think it will be tied up in the courts in the foreseeable future, but again, that will not impact our right to proceed.”
Simplot feels Gov. Risch’s roadless decision was correct and appropriate, based on recommendations of land management officials and a great deal of local input, Zerza said. “So, we certainly concur with that decision. It’s refreshing to have a governor who doesn’t succumb to the demands of the preservationist community.” Risch told the Associated Press that Idaho plans to join other states in appealing Laporte’s decision.
Charles Ross, general manager of Agrium’s Conda phosphate operation near Soda Springs, said the federal court ruling is a “non issue” for Agrium in Caribou County. “Based on the ages of our leases and when they’re done here, I see this will have essentially no effect on us. If they were new leases, it might be different, but the deposit has been identified,” Ross said. Agrium shifted its phosphate mining operations from North Rasmussen Ridge to the Dry Valley slightly more than a year ago. Ross anticipates the Dry Valley mining will continue for another three to four years, when Agrium would return to North Rasmussen Ridge.