‘Clean water more important than gold’: Environmental groups challenge Stibnite water permit

A state permit that allows Perpetua Resources to discharge treated mining water fails to protect the East Fork South Fork Salmon River, according to environmental groups. 

The groups, including the Idaho Conservation League, filed a petition for review last week for a permit that they say violates the federal Clean Water Act, as well as state law governing water quality. 

The permit, issued Jan. 30 by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, allows Perpetua to discharge water into the river after it has been treated in a water treatment plant the company plans to build at Stibnite, the site of its gold and antimony mine near Yellow Pine. 

The permit covers water pumped out of mining pits and water that flows across waste rock or exposed ore, which can leach off pollutants like arsenic, mercury, copper, and lead. 

The petition for review, however, said the permit fails to protect water quality because DEQ failed to “impose the necessary and appropriate” pollutant limits. 

“DEQ has consistently put the interests of Perpetua Resources and this mine over the interests of the environment and environmental law,” said Will Tiedemann, a regulatory associate for ICL. “Clean water will always be more important than gold, a concept that appears lost on DEQ.” 

Troy Smith, DEQ’s Boise regional administrator, told Valley Lookout on Friday that the agency is currently reviewing the petition and will be preparing an “appropriate response.” 

Smith said the agency will file an administrative record with a hearing officer who will preside over the petition for review. No hearing date had been scheduled as of Friday.

Perpetua: petition part of ‘familiar pattern’

Marty Boughton, a Perpetua spokesperson, dismissed the petition as “unsubstantiated rhetoric” and said the permit “fully complies” with all state and federal standards. 

“This challenge follows a familiar pattern from the same group working to block the project’s lawful advancement,” Boughton said.

Idaho Rivers United, Earthworks, and Save the South Fork are also named in the petition, which was filed Feb. 27. Each of the groups, as well as ICL, is also suing the Forest Service and other regulatory agencies for approving the mine last year.

Save the South Fork and ICL previously filed a similar petition for review involving an air quality permit that DEQ issued to Perpetua. Multiple appeals of that permit ultimately did not yield any changes, which prompted the environmental groups to file a lawsuit, as Valley Lookout reported. 

A hearing in that case is currently scheduled for May 27 before Fourth Judicial District Judge Jason Scott, according to online court records. 

What does the permit allow?

The water discharge permit issued by DEQ would expire five years into the project, at which point it would need to be renewed. 

The permit allows Perpetua to treat and discharge up to about three million gallons of water per day into the East Fork, which flows through the project site. 

Another one million gallons of water per day could be discharged into Meadow Creek, which flows into the East Fork. Discharges to Meadow Creek are needed to keep the stream from drying up while Perpetua pumps water out of a nearby pit mine, causing groundwater levels to drop. 

Groundwater pumped from the pit mine must be collected and treated by Perpetua because it could be contaminated by toxic metals from exposed ore. That water, and other contact water from around the 1,740-acre mine site, would be collected and stored in lined ponds until it can be treated and discharged, or used for on-site ore processing.

The permit establishes seasonal and year-round effluent limits that set monthly averages and daily maximums that pollutant levels must remain within. It does not, however, include any metric for instant monitoring.

A chart outlining requirements of the water discharge permit. Chart: Via Idaho Department of Environmental Quality

Continuous water temperature monitoring is required to ensure temperatures do not rise to levels that could harm fish, including bull trout and salmon. 

“Effluent limits applied in this permit for all other pollutants of concern… were developed using the most stringent water quality criteria applicable,” according to a DEQ document explaining the methodology behind the permit. 

The permit requires Perpetua to develop a fish tissue monitoring plan to track any buildup of pollutants like arsenic and mercury. 

The permit does not allow Perpetua to discharge water used in cyanide ore processing circuits. 

Water quality in the East Fork and other streams at the proposed mine site do not currently meet federal drinking water standards due to high concentrations of arsenic and antimony from pollutants left by previous mining companies.