PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Representatives from J.D. Irving Ltd. were in Aroostook County Thursday and Friday speaking to town managers, economic development officials and others about the potential for mining at Bald Mountain.
Anthony Hourihan, director of land development for J.D. Irving Ltd., said that residents have been positive about the project as long as the mining poses no adverse effects to the environment.
“We had a lot of good questions last night,” said Hourihan, referring to a meeting on Thursday evening attended by members of groups such as the Northern Maine Development Commission, Aroostook Partnership for Progress and Leaders Encouraging Aroostook Development. “People seem to be excited about the economic prospects.”
Approximately two weeks ago, Rep. John Martin, D-Eagle Lake, submitted a bill to change the state’s mining laws. He said he was prompted to introduce the bill by the increasing price of minerals and the potential for mining gold, silver, copper and zinc on Bald Mountain.
Martin submitted LD 1853, An Act To Improve Environmental Oversight and Streamline Permitting for Mining in Maine. The mountain is located northwest of Ashland and Portage.
Martin said the bill would create sensible, environmentally sound mining regulations that would encourage responsible mining activities and that would put the state Department of Environmental Protection in charge of permitting and regulating such operations.
According to Martin, recent reports indicate that mining development at Bald Mountain could create up to 300 direct, well-paying jobs and hundreds of indirect jobs. There also would be an excise tax on the minerals there, so the result would be more than $600 million in employment income and more than $120 million in state and local taxes, he said.
The state’s mining laws and rules were updated in 1991 as a result of potential mineral deposits discovered at Bald Mountain.
Environmental and conservation groups, however, are accusing the company and some lawmakers of trying to push the proposed changes through without adequate public scrutiny or debate.
The result, opponents warn, could be poisoned lakes, streams and groundwater sources near Bald Mountain and other Maine places where gold, silver and other valuable metals are locked away in the bedrock.
On Friday, Hourihan was looking to allay concerns that the process was being rushed or that the mining process would be environmentally destructive.
He said if the bill passed it would create a consolidated permitting law known as the Maine Nonferrous Metal Mineral Mining Act and that the required rulemaking by the DEP likely would not begin until at least January 2014.
He said that the last of the work sessions on the legislation was expected to take place Monday. During hearings this week, the Legislature’s Environment and Natural Resources Committee members have clarified wording, made amendments and asked many questions about the legislation.
“The committee is doing a great job and asking a lot of questions,” he said.
Mary Keith, vice president of communications for J.D. Irving, said that the company is committed to pursuing the project, and she felt that the right balance could be achieved between completing the project and keeping the environment pristine.
Hourihan also said that there have been significant improvements in environmental control technology and best practices since 1991.
Members of NMDC and the Central Aroostook Chamber of Commerce spoke in support of the bill earlier this week in Augusta.
Hourihan acknowledged that there are obstacles. Maine has rigid and time-consuming mining laws and its permit approval standards are not clear, with duplicate reviews and permits needed from different agencies, which also must be renewed every five years. Drinking water standards apply beneath mining areas and variances aren’t available for many of the requirements, according to Irving officials.
At the same time, Hourihan spoke of some of the obstacles facing The County, including unemployment and population loss. He said that Irving would be looking to hire local people, just as they hire local loggers to work for the company.
“What we heard a lot last night was that people wanted their children to stay here or come back here,” he explained. “But they wanted them to be able to have good-paying jobs. Those kind of jobs are what we have in this project.”
its good to have a job.
In such a remote area, I wonder where these workers would live. I think I know the answer but I’ll let you make a wild guess.
Can we all say ‘Trailer Park’ ? If Maine thought they had a problem with bath salts and meth up to now, just wait till the doper’s start trying to get a hold of that mining money. And I just can’t wait to see where the ‘cooker’s’ are gonna set up shop. If Martin thought he was gonna have a deal with Irving for miner’s housing just wait till he see’s the repair bill’s he’s gonna have, not to mention the damage bill’s from MDEA when they come calling with a warrant. This whole mining deal smells deader than a moose in mid-July. And that it’s being rushed thru tells me that someone has already got a lot of money out there and is expecting some serious return on their investment. Now, who stand’s to gain locally on any cash investment money that’s already out there and at the same time keep hidden the reason for the cash investment?
I have no problem with the concept of the mining. But it needs to be done with ALL aspect’s considered and planned for. That this whole process is being so rushed thru, and it’s being done faster than a Clinton ‘quickie’, tells me that there is huge amount of ‘something’ that someone does not want seen until it’s too late. Again, who stands to gain by keeping whatever ‘it’ is hidden ? I also find it more than a little interesting that no where in this whole mess was DEP anywhere to be seen. Gold mining requires the use of cyanide, in liquid form, to seperate the gold out from the binding rock. The cyanide has to go somewhere. But, to date, this one ‘little’ issue has seemingly gone unmentioned. When is it gonna be mentioned ? After the cyanide has gotten into the groundwater table ? What’s the impact on the groundwater table, and any of the downrange streams, that these mining practice’s are gonna leave ? And, for the really ‘BIG ONE’, what’s the impact of these same mining and processing practice’s gonna do to the water table that the potato farmer’s use to irrigate their field’s. The same could be asked for the processing plant’s in Easton and Washburn. What’s the water quality gonna turn to for them after the gold refinng process is finished and the cyanide is released ? The time to start asking the question’s is right now, not 2 years into the mining operation. That Maine itself is nowhere to be seen is more than a little troubling. It almost borders on neglience. It also calls for a whole lot more oversight than has been seen to date from Augusta.
The hearings on Martin’s bill are live streamed by the Legislature, and you can request markups of each day’s session be faxed to you. Of course, an actual bill will be reported, and a public hearing held on it.
How much does Martin owe the company Irving?
Not a peep about Martin’s debt to the “Irving Empire” in the article, either. Just for a moment, imagine if a Republican who owed the Irving Empire hundreds of thousands had put in a bill to allow strip mining that would benefit – the Irving Empire. Howls! Righteous indignation! Oh, the humanity!
But instead it is a Democrat and we have a thoughtful article about “jobs.” This is the Bangor Democrat News at its best.
Sir, at last count by Martin himself around $ 150,000.–. And as far as Mr Weinand is concerned, Sir, I just can’t wait until the political favor for the vote issue starts getting investigated not just by the Maine AG’s Office but, and we can all see it coming, the Fed’s. This whole mining of Northern Maine was seen over a year ago when the old MMA line’s north of Brownville were bought under State bond and then immediately had over 70% of their capacity bought / leased by Irving under the guise of sending potato’s and lumber south. With the country in such a mess is anyone really that stupid to believe that Irving is gonna have enough traffic demand for lumber that it’s gonna’ tie up these rail line’s 24/7 ? It might be good piece of journalism for both BDN and Mr Weinand to go back over the MMA Bond issue and see just who was so vehement, and influencial, in getting that bond bill passed. John Grisham’s ‘The Pelican Brief” wasn’t this good !
The drug dealers will make the most money from the mine workers. Then the Booze sellers. No cable TV or Wi FI up there, in a miners trailer park. Enjoy !
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I agree, especially the absence of DEP in the article. Well, if DEP was unaware this was going on, they will be after reading this BGN article.
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Folk’s I’m out here in the Woods just like you are. In fact I live right on Rt 2A so I know dammed well what living in a zoo is like. I have to do it everyday ! And for those who wonder just how far the cyanide poisoning of the watertable could go, just go ask those familes in West Virginia who are struggling with birth defect’s, black lung disease and cancer’s caused by the various coal and ore mining chemical’s and their runoff’s into the local watertable. And as far as the potato plant goes, I will stand corrected on Easton. But what’s the McCain’s plant going to do, not to mention those folks in Presque Isle and further downriver, when the gold processing chemical’s start flowing into the river that they both depend on for food processing and, in Presque Isle’s case, drinking water and public safety ?
And Sir, this isn’t greediness or arrogance. It’s common sense and looking at where your community, and mine since I’m downrange, watertable-wise from this mess, is going to wind up along with everyone else up here that is so seemingly happy to join in on until they start seeing their kid’s and families start dying. I have no problem with the mining. But anyone who is so desperate as to jump on Irving’s wagon at the 1st chance isin’t looking at where that wagon is going or at what it’s gonna’ eventually cost. Go look at your wife and kid’s and then ask yourself if the cost is worth it. A 6 ft. hole in the ground leaves little room for arguement, doesn’t it ? A family member in it from poisoning leaves even less
Ummm where can I get me one of those trailah parks?
I bet JD is going to hire The Hoffmans, Parker Schnoebel, and Dakota Fred to come to Bald Mountain. It’s a glory hole!!!
funny, that’d be a great show I can see it now.
I love that show… I didn’t know what a glory hole was before then!
Trust not these greedy corporate entities without a conscience – Irving or Plum Creek whose sole interest is composed of two words – more and money.
Good point… but you’d have us trust an ever encroaching government, which is bent on stripping away our freedoms. A Government empowered by leftist, who natural feel superior to the general populace, and desire to empart their vision on the rest of us… yeah thats sounds like a good strategy!
Johnson, time you took a college course and learned about our Constitution and all of its amendments. We have far greater freedom today than when it was created. And that is especially true for women, landowners, the blacks and the religious folks. In more recent years, we have also gained more freedom from an invasive government regarding the 2nd Amendment and the 4th Amendment. I, along with SAM and the Millinocket Fin & Feather Club have fought to maintain our rights and freedom. The world is not perfect but Maine might be better off without Irving and Plum Creek, entities whose pockets never seem to have enough money.
Here we go, jobs in Maine for Canadians only. Mainers can clean the toilets. Wonder if the Canadians will use Mountain Top Removal, pollute everything, like they do in Appalachia.
Those darn Canadians with all that chest hair and gold chains, doing the jobs Americans refuse to do themselves!!! Build a fence!
With full disclosure about conflicts of interest and confirmation that Martin has no financial interests, under oath, then maybe there is something to this opportunity as county has nothing going for it right now..something really stinks about the connections between Irving and some polititicians and of course the media does not do any investigative reporting…..
Long live King John! The king to the North of Angus King of Bowdion! Who will pay tribute to whom?
Very unfortunate that the last 4 comments of the first 5 are negative. I have not read the other similar articles in the BDN regarding this topic, however would hope the comments are not in same light and are more optimistic.
I moved back home 5 years ago this week from Southern Maine. Not that we didn’t like Southern Maine, but my wife and I knew what it was like growing up in the County as most people in their 30’s and 40’s would say was a great place to grow up. We made the decision to move back with a good paying job secure. Secure is only how well the place of employment can sustain their piece. I am not suggesting that corporate greed does not exist, however just because individual companies have a vision and they prosper from their vision, does not make them greedy. I do trust the Irving’s and I do have a good conscience. Their vision in sustainability and growth are key to why I support this project.
Other than surfing the web and looking for mining disasters and groups contrary to the Bald Mountain project and posting them, the details are what most people miss. The Appalachia piece Knigtscross refers to talks about Economic, Ecological and Community impacts. http://appvoices.org/end-mountaintop-removal/ for your own critiquing. However when you read the details other than assuming because they are an advocate for not having Mountain Top mines that it pertains to, it is very different from what Irving is trying to embark on. When you look at the Economic impact, they describe the impact that technology has played in reducing the amount of jobs from 130,457 in 1940-1950 to 21,190 in 2008. Now if we are to try to compare it to here in Northern Maine, you can not use that info because you would be adding jobs not eliminating. Another impact they discuss as the topic for that case is the use of coal to produce energy, not the case here, however the Bald Mountain project could assist with potentially aiding to our electricity crisis. The same can be said with the Community impact piece, where it is making a case for mortality rates in those areas. It would be very interesting to see the data behind it. The data probably would show that the time frame of 1979-2005, are the results of pre-mining laws. I am not debating it but am cautious to believe someone who has one objective. As for the Ecological Impact, it is interesting that they throw in the analogy of the Hiroshima-strength Atomic Bomb. My first thought is that’s terrible. However using the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb analogy, you relate it to death and terrible things, you don’t get that it is Magnitude they really mean. If you think of the Bald Mountain project of ~500 acres or .78 square miles, the Magnitude would be no different than the area around the Maine Mall in Portland. They also go into impacts to the forest and biodiversity. As Mary Keith pointed out in this article, “Keeping the Environment pristine”. The Irving’s are in Northern Maine in the land management business. If this project was going to impact their main asset, do you think they would move forward with this? (Yes I know you are going to say their greedy, however think about it.)
The proposal for a legislative is not to open up the doors to go panning like Harry Ballsagna is alluding to and stripping any claim that you can come up with, it is to protect the environment and allow for responsible mining of today. (You bring up a good point though; their hard work and vision that they have possessed on Gold Rush should be a lesson to most). Without the change in legislation, the studies will not move forward and the hopes of Economic Impact in the county (Yes w4vr, the county, as individuals will reside where they most feel comfortable, Ashland to Island Falls to Fort Kent and shop where they want) will remain the same, on the decline and my trip back north 5 years ago will have meant nothing. If I remember right the past 5 years that I have been here, I haven’t seen a potential project of this Magnitude come to the table. Keep in mind as Anthony Hourihan pointed out, this is not an overnight proposal. 2014 is probably when DEP will begin their rulemaking. For the Irving’s to want to spend their money in Maine, why would we criticize this and not welcome it? We complain that the county is a dying place because there are no jobs for our children to come back to. As soon as an opportunity arises, the pessimistic hats come on and we don’t allow things to fully come to light. Now why wouldn’t you embrace it, wait for all of the facts (listen/read) them, then make some logical decisions for the greater good. Not for the good of those who come to enjoy the county once a year or every other year, but for the good of those who live and breathe here. It is quite frustrating to think that I made the decision to move back home, to grow a family as I had, only to envision my three kids moving out in 10+ years. Let’s work together now. Thank you for your time and I hope more people can be optimistic and support some studies to evolve!
Dawn thank you for a well written commentary, but you do realize it won’t slow down the nay-sayers one bit. I suppose it’s their right to be negative, but it would be nice if they did it in a knowledgable way, versus an emotional way.
Good commentary, but you miss the point.
The environmental industry wants us to leave so they can have their park. Control of the north woods is what this is and has been for decades.
Take a look at EVERY project that would bring even a tiny bit of economic development to rural Maine, and you will find the same list of enviroterrorist organizations that are opposed to it.
They have come for our tree farms.
How long before they decide they want our potato farms?
Martin was a guest on my radio show this week, in which we discussed the controversy surrounding the two different companies with the same name of Irving.
He also explained his bill to update Maine’s mining laws, which hasn’t been done in 20 years. One aspect is that a mining company will need to put up cash or a bond to ensure that the mine is capped after operations are completed.
He also spoke in some detail about the proposed mine itself. Listen here:
http://www.cyberears.com/index.php/Browse/playaudio/15458
I’ll that I am no fan of strip mines, and want to see the practice of mountaintop removal stopped. But I am willing to review the proposed changes to Maine law and react to them when they are actually available.
Unless it is a Republican putting the legislation forward.
I review legislation put forth by Republicans too. Doesn’t mean I agree with it of course. I do favor Sen. Kevin Raye’s bill to re-establish a presidential primary.
After reading your post I have to say that I’m reminded of the old joke ” How do you know when a politician is lying ? …His lips are moving. “
No problem they can move their slug down to the land fill at Dolby. The State has already taken responsibility to cap that after operations are completed.
Think of this. When a mine is exhausted, the company folds up the tent and goes home. The wreckage is left behind. When the price of gold goes back to 800/ounce, the company folds and goes home.
Irving has a terrible record. Why do you believe them now? They have been sued 7 ways to Sunday to force them to use American workers in the woods, and they close the mills on a whim.
If they had mined northern Maine in the 1900s, there would be a trail of poisoned water and mountains of waste rock that would still be bleeding acid into the streams with no fish in them.
Instead of only using the numbers of the Chamber of Commerce, how about we look at where Irving has led the North Maine Woods? Have they incresed the numbers of workers? No. Have they tried to circumvent the law? (The question should be how many hundreds of times.)
Why rush this through the legislature when the man pushing it unites the Repubs. and Dems. on the only thing they can agree on, that Mr. Martin is a bit shady?
Irving has abused its stranglehold on The County every chance they got. They are accountable to nobody, and if you want to trust the future to them, you go get a job from them, if you don’t already work there.
Finally, what is left after a hard rock mine is done? A moonscape and poisoned water. Do we have to think we are the last humans to live here?
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Have you actually ever been to the county or do you live in some fantasy land of hyperbole? Please the county is the size of two small New England states, what are we talking about a feww hundred acres tops?
Not only do you know nothing of me, you know nothing of a mine, and a hard rock mine to boot.
First of all, lets say the mine is 400 acres. Where do you put the stuff you take out of the hole? Do you think it is all gold? After it is extracted and crushed, you sill need some kind of separation. You also need a lot of water.
Where do you put the water with the chemicals in them, because separating out the gold on an industrial scale involves lots of crushing, washing and addition of chemicals. Do you think this water doesn’t go down the river? I know they’ll promise to clean it, but every mine has had spills, and the contaminated soil needs to be kept on-site for long after the mine is gone.
So even though it is a tidy little thing in your mind, it isn’t that way. Go online a little further and look at some pictures of mines. Better yet, go across the border to Quebec and take a look at their moonscape where they mined asbestos for years.
In closing I would ask you what the name of your fantasy land is. i think you have been watching too much Disney and you imagine the mines to look like where the 7 dwarfs live. Too bad reality is not much like that.
Maine does not have an electricity crisis. This is the issue right here. The people who supported the environment have been blamed for every economic decline in the last 50 years. In fact the underlying cause and effect has been exploitation from multi-national corporations. Just like anybody could see that the hydro system has been stolen on an international level so have the jobs in the woods industry. Paying tribute to the multi-nationals by way of these Canadian companies that own all the land and the power companies will continue to be the drain on our economy that it has been for all these years. This is why I have been against the Status-Quo for decades now. Further, I see this clash of the environmental movement and the developers as what the clear-cutting of the Maine’s economy has been all about. Now that the wood and the power assets have all been directed towards the northern border now they are coming to reap the gold. Just follow the money. google (Kinross mining and correctional facillities) to see that Irving is not just a Blue Canoe.
“We complain that the county is a dying place because there are no jobs for our children to come back to. As soon as an opportunity arises, the pessimistic hats come on and we don’t allow things to fully come to light. Now why wouldn’t you embrace it, wait for all of the facts (listen/read) them, then make some logical decisions for the greater good.”
I forgive you since you have been “away” for some time. You certainly do propose a lot of good points and logical thinking, and yes we in the county do need to capture all opportunities we can; however you cannot trust JD Irving. When met with oppostition many years ago in the Allagash region because local woodcutters were being displaced by his Canadian workers, JD said he would dry up the town of Allagash…and he truly did. Once a thriving small community of woodsmen and their families, it is now a community of mainly senior citizens, and seasonal sportsmen. Personally, I love this idea of mining proposed by John Martin, I just don’t trust Irving.
I was a girl friend of one of the J.D. Irving employees that worked at the lumber operation formerly Pinkhams lumber in portage. It is no surprise to me that they would want another finger in the pie for more money. I can’t tell you how many times I would drive to the mill and see the helicopter that J.D. Irving himself or his son would arrive in. This is nothing more than greed and being money hungry. Portage Lake has long been a get away for alot of families in the summer time. I spent alot of my summer’s there as a child as do countless other’s. This area has been hit hard due to the closing of our lumber mills and diminishing wild life causing hunter’s that used to flourish our area to go elsewhere. Portage Lake relies on tourists coming to enjoy their Lakes and summer fun, and the last thing the town needs is to have companies coming in and blasting to mine mineral’s or gold. The town as well as the other people who come here in the summer will not benefit from this. The only people that will benefit is J.D. Irving as well as John Martin who is speeding up the legislation for this project. If people want to see the benefit of J.D. Irving just take a ride in the north maine woods sometime and see all the clear cutting and stumps and other crap that was left behind instead of seeing all the trees and views that you used to see when driving through the woods it’s disgusing. “money is the root of all evil” and it show’s in this instance for sure. I hope bald mountain stay’s the same as it alway’s has unmined and left alone. It would be nice to see that for once money and greed would not win.
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Do you weep for every gravel pit? The truth is we have many small mining operations all over the place. This is a great opportunity for some decent employment and a chance for a few county folks to prosper. I say let it be so.
Not to be rude or anything but it’s pretty hard to be optomistic when the only benefit to this mining operation is John martin and J.d. Irving. The tax payer’s and the people of the community of portage lake, as well as jobs to aroostook county are not going to get squat! Look at Mars Hill when they wanted those wind mills on Mars Hill Mountain. Having once lived there and having to pay an electricity bill nobody saw the lower electricity rates, as well as tax breaks that were promised they would get if they were allowed there. And to top it all off you got these ten or twelve ungly eye sores moving round and round lining Canadian pockets as well as the investor’s. Just like the town of Ashland when they voted for the new 20 million dollar school that was built that combined the lower grade children in with the high school children. Now the town of Ashland is struggling to cover the higher taxes that have to be paid and nobody there is working because of the lumber industry. I don’t personally see what the benefit would be for the residents of portage Lake.
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We don’t need no stinkin jobs!
I’m not against the mining. But, I am questioning how it will be done. If you want to know how J.D. Irving Ltd. operates. Google the things they have done in New Brunswick, when they built the refinery. If any news paper spoke out against them they were bought out and closed. We have already experienced what they do right here in Aroostook. (e.g. Pinkham Lumber).
P.S. They are different companies but the same corporation and same family. Which means the same owners. Just look around our country and see what the Koch brothers are doing to our country out of greed.
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Beware of Greeks bearing gifts…the promised jobs, cut in half …If that many.
I know the dems won’t go there to work, you can’t work and still be bussed around the country to vote in other States while working,, can’t be done…
This reply is to the comment that was made to distillrelaxin. It’s not a matter of being envious of a buisnessman making money, the fact is he is not even a citizen of this country he is Canadian! He comes and makes a total mess to our wildlife and just leaves it there like he can’t be bothered. Just so ya know you still have to go to Ashland or P.I. to get your stuff cause we all know the Coffins General Store story. And when it’s all said and done the community other than small paychecks every week which don’t amount to squat considering the lives that are at stake from mining. And last and not least at the end of the day two people get all the money and benefit and in case you can’t guess I can spell it out to you JOHN MARTIN and JD IRVING
one last comment from this so called envious person of a smart buisnessman. Just in case it might have slipped your memory I wanted to make you aware of something……………….. At no time has JD Irving gave a flying fig about anybody in aroostook county that is in of a job! The employees that worked at the former Pinkham Lumber operation have not heard from or helped by JD Irving. It did not bother him any when he got rid of them and dismantled the mill and took the machinery to guess where Canada! They ain’t heard a peep out of that man for the past 6 or seven year’s. And low and behold all of a sudden he is so concerned about the people up here that are desperate for jobs! It’s the biggest load of doggie Poo I have ever heard! He only became concerned about the people here when it benefits his pockets first!