Idaho Conservation League joins suit against USFS

The Idaho Conservation League has joined the federal lawsuit challenging the U.S. Forest Service’s approval of Perpetua Resources’ Burntlog Route Geophysical Investigation.

The organization, along with Save the South Fork Salmon and Idaho Rivers United, are contesting a haul road proposed for the Stibnite Gold Mine in Valley County, Idaho, and a categorical exclusion issued by the agency.

Perpetua’s preferred mine road, known as the Burntlog Route, is one of two potential access points to a dilapidated mine east of McCall, Idaho, it plans to reopen and expand.

The route would widen around 23 miles of the existing Burnt Log Road, according to a news release from by the Idaho Conservation League.

It would also construct about 15 miles of new road near Burnt Log Creek, traveling through Burntlog, Black Lake, Meadow Creek inventoried roadless areas and the boundary of the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness.

If built, the route would be Idaho’s second-highest elevation road, which would require significant avalanche mitigation and road plowing, and cause increased sediment delivery to sensitive waterways and fragment habitat for sensitive species, according to the news release.

The alternate Johnson Creek Route would widen existing access roads along Johnson Creek and the Yellow Pine-Stibnite Road, according to the news release.

It was previously decided by the Forest Service that Burnt Log Creek is qualified for the highest level of protection under the National Wild and Scenic River System, according to the news release. This area is known for its fisheries, supporting chinook salmon, steelhead, bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout.

Perpetua began work on the Stibnite Gold Project in hopes of reinstating a more than century-old cyanide vat-leach mine on a tributary to the Salmon River, according to documents provided on its website.

It plans to extract gold, silver and other valuable resources from two existing open pits at the Stibnite Mining District, and create a third.

The company states the project would provide jobs, generate tax revenue and clean up toxic materials left behind, according to the documents.

But the Idaho Conservation League and other organizations claim it would double the amount of disturbance in the previously mined area.

The project entails excavating a more than 700-foot pit underneath the riverbed of the East Fork South Fork Salmon River, along with two other pits, as well as constructing permanent mine waste dumps and filling upper Meadow Creek with 100 million tons of mining tailings behind a 475-foot-high tailings dam, according to the news release. Water pollution from mining activities would require decades of water treatment post-closure.

Before anything can be constructed, Perpetua must acquire proper permits and perform testing.

The Burntlog Geophysical Investigation would collect geophysical data at rock quarries, bridge abutments, cut slopes and soil nail/mechanically stabilized earth wall locations.

This involves a track-mounted excavator, truck/track-mounted hollow stem auger/core rig, a helicopter assisted casing advancer/core drill rig and dynamic cone penetrometer testing, according to the news release.

Perpetua plans to investigate 24 locations by drilling or excavating 40 borings or test pits to determine if the proposed route is feasible, according to the news release.

Drilling would occur along the existing Burnt Log Road and in the Burntlog, Black Lake and Meadow Creek inventoried roadless areas near the River of No Return Wilderness, along with the Burntlog Creek Wild and Scenic River Corridor, a tributary to the South Fork Salmon River, and protected riparian areas in the headwaters of Johnson Creek, according to the news release.

The Forest Service analyzed the plan separately from the later Stibnite Gold Project, concluding it’s an independent, stand-alone project from the mine.

The agency issued a categorical exclusion for additional analysis in an Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement, according to the news release.

Electing to categorically exclude a project is commonly done for complex plans in sensitive areas. It’s used when a project is deemed to not have a significant impact, allowing permit-holders or agencies to avoid broad-scale environmental analysis.

Save the South Fork Salmon and Idaho Rivers United originally filed the lawsuit May 6, contending the Forest Service violated federal law by failing to analyze potential impacts of the geophysical investigations of the larger Stibnite Gold Project, according to the news release.

The organizations state the Forest Service did not adequately consider potential impacts to species protected by the Endangered Species Act, including chinook, bull trout, wolverine and white bark pine, according to the news release.

The Burntlog lawsuit follows a decision made by the Idaho Board of Environmental Quality to invalidate a previously approved air-quality permit issued by the state Department of Environmental Quality in 2023 concerning underestimations of cancer risk, according to the news release.

Pearce can be reached at epearce@dnews.com