Comments Due by April 17, 2017
The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) Battle Mountain District in Nevada is asking for public comments on its Draft Environment Impact Statement (EIS) for the expansion of a gold mine northwest of Eureka, Nevada operated by McEwen Mining Inc.
The project would include the drilling of four open pit gold mines and the construction of miles of access roads, a water pipeline and wells, and multiple facilities in the portions of the Roberts Creek Herd Management (HMA) and Herd Area (HA), the Fish Creek North HMA, and the Kobeh Valley HA.
The Roberts Mountain HMA and Fish Creek North HMA are part of the Roberts Mountain Complex. The Appropriate Management Level for this Complex ranges between 170 and 184 wild horses.
The EIS states that direct impacts of this project to wild horses would include the loss of 718 acres of habitat, a reduction in forage availability, and possible mortality or injury from vehicle collisions. Additionally, wild horses will be subject to unavoidable environmental contamination and increased human activity which result from gold mining operations. Finally, the gold mine expansion project will consume enormous amounts of water in an area where water is already scarce and shortage of water is often used by the BLM as an excuse to remove wild horses from the range.