Roundup maker Monsanto, community seek federal approval

By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press

SODA SPRINGS, Idaho - Monsanto wants to open a new phosphate mine at its Soda Springs operation, and what the public and federal government think of that proposal will affect the environmental and economic future of several communities in Eastern Idaho.

Monsanto is North America's only producer of elemental phosphorous - a key ingredient in Roundup herbicide.

Commissioner Phil Christensen of Bancroft said Monsanto is a big part of Caribou County, providing jobs at its mine and its plant and indirectly supporting other businesses.

"Commissioners support the project to get another (mine) going," he said. "If they don't get the permit, they'll just actually be out of business, I'm sure."

If that happened, the county "would be hurting severely," Christensen said. "Without the phosphate plant in the county, there'd be the loss of tax base and employment for people, and businesses that support it would be out of business."

Monsanto wants citizens to get involved in the approval and comment process, said Trent Clark, the company's director of public and governmental affairs.

"Monsanto is really looking forward to having the public comment on our new Blackfoot Bridge mine," he said.

At its Soda Springs operation, Monsanto produces the elemental phosphorous for 75 percent of glyphosate used in the world - at a rate of seven-tenths of a pound of elemental phosphorous in a gallon of Roundup. Glyphosate is used to combat 90 percent of the world's weeds affecting agriculture, Clark said.

Monsanto is seeking federal approval for Blackfoot Bridge and hopes to have it opened by the time its South Rasmussen mine plays out in 2011. The new mine would extend production out another 15 years, Clark said.

Blackfoot Bridge would sit on 740 acres, 75 of which are public land, and includes 40 acres of water-management ponds, said Randy Vranes, mine development manager. The north pit would be 660 feet from the Blackfoot River, separated by a ridge.

The mine could produce 11,000 tons of phosphorous ore per day from the first of May through mid-October, with large ponds to handle surface water coming off the site.

A tour of Monsanto's current operation shows reclaimed land covered in grasses and trees with little trace that a mine ever existed.

Blackfoot Bridge "will be the most environmentally advanced mining operation in the world," Vranes said.

At the top of the list of environmental concerns is how Monsanto will keep selenium, uncovered during the mining process, from contaminating surface water and groundwater.

"We're not opposed to new mines," said Marv Hoyt, Idaho director for Greater Yellowstone Coalition. But the Bozeman, Mont.-based organization, which has a stated mission of protecting lands, waters and wildlife of the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, is concerned with any mining company's water-quality program and whether it can prevent water contamination.

Company mining officials say they have learned a lot since selenium became an issue in the late 1990s after the Rasmussen mine won federal approval. Selenium wasn't even monitored previous to the finding of dead horses and sheep pastured near other mines in the area in the late 1990s. The animals were diagnosed with chronic selenosis.

The Idaho Mining Association responded by forming the Selenium Area Wide Advisory Committee in 1997, and the Bureau of Environmental Health and Safety became involved in 1999.

Clark said selenium is now on everyone's radar.

Monsanto has spent five years studying how best to manage the trace essential mineral, which at higher exposures can be harmful or deadly to people, fish and wildlife.

The Rasmussen mine was approved under a less-stringent environmental assessment. Blackfoot Bridge must win approval with a more-rigorous environmental impact statement.

State water standards, enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency, set drinking water levels at no more than 50 parts per billion of selenium. The environmental standard is far less, 5 ppb, with levels detectable at 1 ppb.

"We haven't had much information on Monsanto's (proposed mine), outside what the company has told us," Hoyt said. "At this point, they are proposing measures that other companies have yet to apply."

The Greater Yellowstone Coalition is awaiting the Bureau of Land Management's environmental impact statement, which BLM has been working on for four years.

Jeff Kundick, BLM minerals branch chief, said the process has taken a couple of years longer than normal to compile the statement.

The environmental impact statement - a collaborative effort among BLM, the Forest Service, the state, EPA, the state Department of Lands and Monsanto - is due out in mid-July.

BLM's chief concern in considering permitting the new mine is water contamination, primarily Monsanto's reduction or elimination of selenium contamination, Kundick said.

He said the mine is within 700 feet of the Blackfoot River, which the EPA recently listed as impaired by selenium under the Clean Water Act.

The river is considered impaired because about one month of the year in spring, selenium levels in the river rise above water-quality standards of 5 parts per billion up to as much as 11 ppb, he said.

"So Monsanto's mine is going to have to be looked at as to what kinds of concentrations of water enter the river from the mine," Kundick said. "We've told Monsanto it has to have management practices that ensure the Blackfoot River is not further impaired."

Kundick said BLM has evaluated the liner proposal.

"We found that without the use of the liner, the mine would further degrade the Blackfoot River. It's a no-go without the infiltration barrier," Kundick said. "Our modeling shows it should work. We're ensuring provisions are made for the utilization and construction of this cap over time so that it won't be compromised."

"It looks interesting, and it could work," Hoyt said. "We'll take a careful look (at the EIS) and make recommendations if we see a need for change."

Hoyt said he anticipates his organization will have questions on how the cover has worked at other sites; how that applies to the planned coverage area( hundreds of acres where heavy equipment will be used) with rock and soil laid on top of the cover; how susceptible the cover is to puncture and its life span.

"Those are the answers we'll be looking for," Hoyt said.

Margie English, DEQ mining project manager with the Pocatello field office, is part of the interagency team formed in 2005 to develop the EIS. She said DEQ has helped with the technical aspects regarding geology and surface water and groundwater movement, and has overseen water monitoring in conjunction with the EIS.

"We had concerns on how they're predicting the effects of future mining," she said.

Such concerns called for additional research, testing and information, which Monsanto didn't always see the need for.

"We have not gotten any significant or serious pushback. There have been times they asked questions. But they've come to see our point and tried to add those," English said. "They have been cooperative. We feel they've been stepping up to the plate trying to add our concerns" to their modeling.

Staff writer Carol Ryan Dumas is based in Twin Falls. E-mail: crdumas@capitalpress.com.

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