The County should deny the Idaho-Maryland Mine and should not certify the Final EIR
The County's Final Environmental and Economic Impact Reports have been published. On May 11, 2023, the Planning Commission voted...
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hurts business & Homeowners
While Rise Gold shareholders profit, the local community gets little. The few jobs gained are offset by big quality of life impacts for local homeowners, risks for tourism and industry, and 10’s of millions lost in property values.
$10's of millions
ACTION ALERT
consider the impact
Nearby residents and employees of local businesses will share the roads with large trucks carrying mine waste, feel the effects of underground blasting, and hear the sounds of rock processing, loading, spreading, and compacting. Over 75 acres of woodlands, grasslands, and chaparral will also be replaced with industrial buildings and engineered fill. See some of the animals at risk.
The County' Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) lists several significant and unavoidable impacts, including traffic, noise, and aesthetics. The EIR proposes to mitigate other impacts, like air quality and vibration, so they are "less than significant", but experts who reviewed the report found serious deficiencies in the analysis. Learn more about the FINAL EIR's deficiencies.
The County also commissioned an Economic Impact Report that included an evaluation of impact on property values, but the analysis was a big miss. It asserted that property values wouldn't decline, but it completely dismissed the input of local real estate experts and didn't use acceptable home appraisal methods for the analysis they did perform. Learn more about the community review of the Economic Impact Report.
TALKING POINTS
Here are just a few of the things we're worried about.
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Real estate professionals and appraisers tell us that property values will drop in the surrounding community by 5 - 20%, resulting in 10's of thousands of dollars lost in home equity for each home and adding up to 10's of millions of dollars lost across the total number of homes impacted.
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Well owners got shafted in the Final EIR. The report concluded impacts won't be significant, but serious deficiencies in the analysis were identified by expert reviewers and the supplemental domestic well monitoring program is little more than a band-aid.
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The County's Economic Impact Report didn't evaluate the Mine's effect on our tourism industry. Just a 5% -10% drop in tourism employment could completely offset the number of jobs added by the Mine.
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Rise Gold's biological assessment report for the Brunswick site did not record any observation of deer. But a local homeowner's trail cam video tells a completely different story.
“In my opinion, the reopening of the Idaho-Maryland Mine will have an immediate, long-term, detrimental effect on real estate values in Western Nevada County.”
Charlie Brock, Nevada County Realtor for 54 years.
Listen to Charlie's talk about the Economic Impact Report's "Big Miss".
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