Bonnie Gestring, NW Circuit Rider for Earthworks mining contamination of water

 This show will be hosted by Debbie Coffey, V.P. and Dir. of Wild Burro Affairs for Wild Horse Freedom Federation.

Our guest tonight will be Bonnie Gestring, Northwest Circuit Rider for Earthworks, the only U.S. environmental nonprofit that focuses exclusively on the destructive impacts of resource extraction on communities and the environment, in the United States and around the world.

Water is a scarce and precious asset, particularly in the western United States where the demand for freshwater is far out-pacing the supply.

The 1872 Mining Law that still governs hardrock mining on U.S. public lands – mainly metals like gold, copper, silver and uranium -- allows industry open, privileged access to public minerals:

• Multinational corporations mine publicly-owned minerals without paying the taxpayers for them.
• The Law makes mining the "highest and best use" of public lands.  Federal land managers do not deny mine proposals.
• In addition, loopholes in the Clean Water Act allow hardrock mines to dump their toxic waste in to our lakes.

 In 2001.  Prior to that, Bonnie worked as a Community Organizer at Montana Environmental Information Center (MEIC) in Helena, Montana.  She was a leader in campaigns to stop gold mining on the Blackfoot River and to pass the citizen’s initiative banning open pit cyanide process mining in Montana.

Bonnie is co-author of the report Polluting the Future: How mining companies are polluting our nation’s waters in perpetuity.