SWP starts environmental assessment of mine

The Superior Watershed Partnership held their final of four town hall meetings on Thursday night that introduced the Community Environmental Monitoring Program (CEMP).

SWP will be conducting an independent assessment of the Rio Tinto Eagle Mine.  They will be monitoring environmental impacts the mine creates.  Impacts they will be studying include air quality, groundwater, surface water, wildlife and plant life.

Jerry Maynard, a board member for SWP, said that people have been frustrated with Rio Tinto’s lack of responsiveness to concerns about the environment.  He said there is full support of SWP doing the monitoring program, and that the assessment is another resource to make sure that nothing happens, or if something does happen the problem can be resolved quickly.

Monitoring of the mine will begin in 2013.  All reports will be available for the public to see.  They will be in newsletters and posted online at cempmonitoring.com