Steens plan drafted by mining leaders
Wednesday, December 3, 2003 7:32 AM PST
By Associated Press
Printable version
E-mail this articlePORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- The management blueprint for Steens Mountain, one of the largest protected public landscapes in Oregon, is being prepared by the leaders of mining groups, according to a published report.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management hired Enviroscientists Inc. of Reno, Nev., for $670,000 in October 2001 to draw up management options for Steens.
Enviroscientists President Richard DeLong, manager of the Steens project, is treasurer of the California Mining Association, according to a report in Wednesday's Oregonian.
The report went on to say that DeLong spoke to a mining conference in May about strategies to "minimize the effects" of activist groups intent on halting mines.
The situation arose amid a Bush administration drive to hire private companies to perform work historically handled by public agencies. The Steens Mountain management plan is the first Oregon project to be given to an outside business.
U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials said they did not know until informed by The Oregonian that the company has ties to the mining industry.
Enviroscientists Vice President Opal Adams is assistant manager of the Steens project. She is on the board of trustees of the Northwest Mining Association, which describes itself as "the leading voice for access to the public lands for mineral exploration and development."
In her role with the BLM, she will help prepare parts of the plan that analyze whether mining should be restricted in parts of Steens, according to contract documents.
DeLong said Enviroscientists has a reliable track record of unbiased work for public agencies.
"If you slant one way or another, your plans aren't going to withstand challenges," DeLong said. "They are not going to pass muster with the agencies and the public, and ours have."
Gary Foulkes of the BLM's Burns district office said the company's ties to mining are not a conflict of interest because there is almost no mining in the Steens region.
But federal contract documents say the area under the Steens plan "contains a wide variety of energy and mineral resources, including occurrences of gold, silver, mercury" and other minerals. One question to be addressed in the plan is whether "mineral development should be recognized as the highest and best use" in certain areas.
The preferred option in the draft plan compiled by Enviroscientists and approved by the BLM leaves nearly the maximum allowable area, about 448,000 acres, open to mining. It also addresses wilderness protection, wildlife safeguards and other issues.
Federal regulations governing contracting specify that "the general rule is to avoid strictly any conflict of interest or even the appearance of a conflict of interest."
Foulkes said he solicited companies that had been approved for such work by the U.S. General Services Administration. Three submitted bids.
A BLM review team selected the $670,000 offer from Enviroscientists, although it was not the lowest bid, because of the company's expertise, Foulkes said. The BLM would not reveal who submitted the other bids.
Enviroscientists has been in business since 2000. In May this year, DeLong gave a presentation at the 39th Forum on the Geology of Industrial Minerals in Sparks, Nev., about industry opponents with attitudes he described as Not-In-My-Backyard, or NIMBYs, and Not-On-Planet-Earth, or NOPEs.
"NIMBYs and NOPEs love the benefits of mining, but because of ignorance, reliance on emotional issues, and/or lack of scientific knowledge, fight mineral development in the U.S.," he wrote in an abstract of his talk.
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