This is a big issue in Pocatello and the southern part of the Greater Yellowstone-
Environmental groups want E. Idaho mine injunction. AP. Idaho Statesman.
It’s a classic jobs versus obvious, long lasting environmental damage spread over a wide area issue.
The major environmental issue is not the pit but the spreading leakage of selenium poisoning in the Snake River watershed. This potent toxin is already directly killing fish in and downstream from the SE Idaho phosphate field.
A fair number of good paying jobs in Pocatello (my home) depend on Simplot’s Smoky Canyon phosphate mine.
I have had the conservation viewpoint on my blogroll for some time. Caribou Clean Water Partnership.
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Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University with specialties in natural resource politics, public opinion, interest groups, political parties, voting and elections. Aside from academic publications, he is author or co-author of three hiking/backpacking guides, and he is past President of the Western Watersheds Project.
