Conservation group Earthworks obtained documents that show Canadian mining company Midas Gold is being allowed to pen the biological assessment for their proposed Stibnite Gold Project, which will be later used to form an official environmental impact statement, according to the Friday report.
The documents allegedly show that Midas Gold heavily lobbied the Trump administration. The company's initial request to take part in the assessment was refused by the Forest Service in February 2018, but the lobbying continued, and they were said to be leading the evaluation and writing a draft by October 2018.
John Freemuth, a professor at Boise State University who is an expert in public lands policy, disagreed with that assessment. He claimed that while mining companies lobbying governments is not unusual, a company being allowed to write its own biological assessment was unheard of and didn't pass the"smell test."
Analyzing their own project? I’m not an expert but this doesn’t sound like proper procedure. You’d think someone NOT associated with the company would do research and oversight.
Is there concern a 'mining company' won't prioritize the environment ahead of profit?