Editorial: Spokane Tribe needs more time to comment on mine

Members of the Spokane Tribe say they want more time to evaluate the proposed cleanup plan for the Midnite Mine, a project designed to seal its debris and radiation away for generations.

With the long view they take of preserving the land for their children’s children’s children, a deep breath before the bulldozers roll is understandable. The mine, like so many other enterprises born of the atomic age, was once a blessing that provided good jobs. The jobs are long gone, but the failing health of some who worked there, and the environmental legacy of fouled waters and soil, haunts the tribe a generation after the Midnite closed.

Newmont Mining Co., owner of the former mine operator, will assume most of the $193 million cleanup cost. A court ordered the cleanup, but shareholders were also pushing the company to accept more responsibility for the environmental impacts of its operations.

Those who remember Gulf Resources and its scheming executives, who avoided paying for the mess they left behind in the Silver Valley, know not all companies will do the right thing.