On Friday, August 29, Noranda Corporation
of Toronto, Canada,
announced that they are abandoning their lease with Oneida County
for
mineral rights to a zinc-copper deposit, 1 mile from the Willow Flowage
in the Town of Lynn. Mineral and surface rights are again under the
control of Oneida County.
Approximately one year ago, Noranda requested
a lease extension
from the Oneida County Forestry & Recreation Committee. The Committee
tabled the request on the grounds that Oneida County had just passed
a
six month metallic mining moratorium in order to work on a comprehensive
metallic mining ordinance. In the mean time, momentum has grown for
ORW
(Outstanding Resource Water) designation for the Willow Flowage (See
article below), and the Oneida County Towns Association in conjunction
with concerned citizens has developed a metallic mining ordinance with
many strong environmental safeguards.
Situated 1 mile from the Willow Flowage on
Oneida County
Forestland, the deposit was located under a wetland that had been ruled
a
bed of an intermittent lake by the DNR. In addition, the deposit was
located adjacent to a stream, thereby invoking shoreland zoning
regulations. Had Noranda obtained the requisite permits to mine the
Willow Flowage deposit, it appears that it would have require
unprecedented technical ingenuity to mine in such an environmentally
sensitive site. While Noranda didn’t explicitly state its reasons for
abandoning its mining plans, growing public opinion against metallic
mining and the serious commitment of many town and county officials
to
democratic decision-making, created a “difficult political climate”
for
Noranda’s open-pit mine plans.
While no individual or group can rightfully
take sole credit for
this significant environmental victory, ECCOLA’s top priority
in the
past five years has been to protect the Willow Flowage and block
metallic mining at that site. Members of ECCOLA have worked tirelessly
to educate elected officials and attend important hearings and
committees. Its very likely that Noranda’s decision to abandon
its lease
marks ECCOLA’s greatest achievement to date.
