It's official. County Supervisors have approved development of an Economic Impact report. There's still time to give them feedback on what ELSE should be included in the study beyond what's in the current scope. CEA Foundation's President, Ralph Silberstein spoke at last Tuesday's meeting and made the following suggestions.
• Evaluation of the economic impacts on health care due to air pollution, traffic, noise, stress. (Needless to say, you can’t put a price tag on people’s actual health, which is a bigger question. )
• Impacts on high tech and medical imaging businesses such as in Whispering Pines, where blasting vibrations may be a problem.
• And in fact, in general, what impact will the increased traffic, noise, air pollution, and aesthetic degradation have on businesses and residents.
• How will the mine operations affect tourism?
• What are the impacts on real estate and related activities? We know local real estate will be impacted. But also, in prior studies, an influx of skilled miners was predicted to increase demands for rentals.
• And of course, costs to infrastructure and public services should be considered.
• It should be noted that though the requested permit is for 80 years, most mines die a slow death as ore runs out and operations are cut, with increasing desperate measures taken towards the end. We hope that the analysis would bear in mind that, if approved, the project could easily shut down within 10-15 years. Perhaps one of our biggest concerns is that the consultant would rely solely upon the technical draft documents, which have not yet been subject to public review. Our analysis has found that the documents currently posted do not convey the full picture. Hopefully that will all be addressed by reviewing comments from the public and other agencies.
The article in The Union states: The Nevada County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a contract to conduct an independent economic study on the proposed Idaho-Maryland Mine project.
“The study will focus on the direct and indirect impacts of the proposed project on our community,” said CEO Alison Lehman in a news release.
“By doing an independent study, our board will have all the information to make an informed decision, in addition to the information that comes from the environmental review process.”
The proposed project is a combined application for a conditional use permit and reclamation plan to reinitiate underground mining and gold mineralization processing, and is currently in the environmental review process.
Read the rest in The Union.
Source: Nevada County