The Latest News on Idaho’s Public Lands

Our work reviewing project proposals and permits—both exhaustive and sometimes exhausting—pays off in big ways.

The Idaho Board of Environmental Quality recently issued a decision invalidating Perpetua Resources’ air pollution permit for the proposed Stibnite Gold Mine. The Board found that Perpetua Resources and the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) failed to follow regulations designed to protect people from arsenic-laden dust. The decision remands Perpetua’s air pollution permit, sending it back to the administrative hearing officer to reconsider ways to better control arsenic emissions and reduce cancer risks from the proposed mine. 

In response to another protest by ICL and our partners, a Hearing Officer with the Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR) also established minimum stream flows to Perpetua’s water withdrawals that are more protective of fisheries. 

Finally, if you care about the four million-acre Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest in north central Idaho, then you’ll be interested to learn about the status of the Forest Service’s efforts to revise the Land Management Plan.

ICL participated in a three-day administrative hearing to voice objections to the agency’s near-final new plan, arguing that it would harm wildlife, wildlands, and wild rivers by increasing off-road vehicle and snow machine access while shrinking the boundaries of the proposed Great Burn Wilderness Area. The Forest Service has also preliminarily stated that the North and South Fork Clearwater Rivers are not “suitable” for protection under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. It is unclear how the Forest Service will respond to the objections of ICL and other conservation groups, but a written response is due to be published sometime in June. Until then, stay tuned!