Tue Sep 08, 2015 at 10:30 PM PT: The White Hope miners are now in Federal Court being sued by the Forest Service. The Forest Service has charged them with building structures, locking gates, and operating without a permit.
A "day in court" was all mine owner George Kornec supposedly wanted when he called in the Oathkeepers. Now that they are in court, and have declared victory, they are still maintaining an armed perimeter around the mine, defending it from ...who knows what.
UPDATE 8/13/15 Marshall Swearingen of High Country News reports on growing tensions at the mine, as the miners are refusing entrance to journalists, Federal personnel, and anyone else they don't care for. Per the Missoulian's August 11 story,
Federal prosecutors asked a judge on Tuesday to prevent two miners and their armed supporters from blocking access to public land and threatening government officials over a dispute with the U.S. Forest Service in western Montana.
UPDATE: 8/8/15
Oathkeepers, an extreme right wing "Patriot" group,
"has called in people from all over the country to "defend the White Hope Mine". Residents of the small town of Lincoln, Montana, were disturbed by groups of men wearing camouflage clothing and openly carrying weapons. Oathkeeper Santoro says that he has asked members to desist from those practices, and both the local Sheriff, and the Forest Service, are trying to avoid confrontation and to keep the peace.
The mine is in a remote area of the Helena National Forest, and there is only one small access road, which is also used for heavy trucking of gravel from a Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) cleanup between the mine and the town. So far, the media attention and visitors have not interfered with the DEQ cleanup, said a spokesman.
The US Forest Sevice is more than willing to wait the "Oathkeepers" out, and currently has no plans to enter the mine area, nor to remove the unpermitted shed, or any other buildings:
Karl Puckett, of the Great Falls Tribune, reports:
David Smith, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service in Missoula, said the agency wants to resolve the permit issue so mining can resume.
“It’s been a very amicable relationship,” he said. “And our goal is to continue working with them. They have a right to be up there. We want to make sure they do so in accordance with the law.
Sheriff Dutton of the Lewis County Sheriff's Department said
“The situation is peaceful as I know it, and that is my interest, that it remains peaceful,” Dutton said Thursday morning.
The Oathkeepers have served the Forest Service with a "No Trespassing" order, and
say that they will defend the mine claim to the fullest extent of the law.They say that once a claim has been filed, it becomes private property and not subject to Federal law.
The Oathkeepers want the courts to declare that the Forest Service has no control over the surface rights or buildings on the mine property. If the dispute does go to court, it will likely take years to resolve the issue of who owns the surface rights and may legally mine. The Oathkeepers see this as a challenge to all Federal authority, and hope that the "plight" of the two elderly miners enlists public sympathy for the "Patriot" cause.
Oathkeepers is a far right organization, which interprets the U.S. Constitution in the tradition of the "posse comitatus" southern racists who resisted the civil rights movement. Oathkeepers may choose to defy Federal laws or orders with which its members disagree. Southern Poverty Law Center considers Oathkeepers to be a
hate group because of the group's "Patriot" ideology, which emphasizes conspiracy theories, distrust of the Federal government, emphasis on "gun rights", white racial supremacy, and anti-immigrant actions.
Most recently, Oathkeepers was involved in the ginned-up paranoia around Jade Helm and Agenda 21. Members also provided "security" at military recruiting centers, until they were asked to leave.
Today, Oathkeepers is calling for a new "security mission"to protect miners from the Federal Government at the White Hope mine in Lewis and Clark County, Montana. It appears to be a dispute over surface mining claims, between the claim owners, Intermountain Mining, and the US Forest Service, which says that new regulations invalidate the old claims.
Laws about mining on Forest Service Lands are controversial, and sometimes contradict each other. The Oathkeepers are relying on a 1955 law, which does not favor their cause. High Country News' Marshall Swearingen writes:
The Mining Law of 1872 is famously generous to miners when it comes to granting them rights to the riches on public lands. But in northern Idaho, a scuffle between miners and the Forest Service hinges on a related, but lesser-known law: the Mining Claims Rights Restoration Act of 1955. And unlike the 1872 law, this law gives the public lands agency the upper hand in dealing with mining on public lands.
If the White Hope miners do succeed in forcing the issue into court, precedent is not on their side; private property mining rights on USFS land have been decided in favor of public access to public lands.
Oathkeeper spokesman Joseph Santoro has called for all "Oathkeepers", comprised mostly of military veterans, police, and first responders, to bring camping gear and weapons to "defend" the White Hope Mine.
Santoro says that Operation Big Sky" isn't a standoff", but it sure looks like a standoff.
Tom Kuglin, writing for The Missoulian, reports:
In documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, the Forest Service found compliance issues at the mine and ordered Kornec and Intermountain Mining LLC co-owner Phil Nappo to remedy them. Specifically, a shed was built on-site without authorization, explosives were stored, firewood was cut and they needed an approved operation plan for surface disturbance. Two submitted operation plans were rejected by the Forest Service and the miners have not held an approved plan since 2014.
In 1986, the BLM found that Kornec, whose family has held claims since the 1920s, in effect abandoned his claim when he missed a filing deadline, documents state. The deadline was Dec. 30 and the envelope was postmarked Dec. 31.
The abandonment meant that Kornec had to file new paperwork, making the claim regulated under the 1955 laws.
“We have to go with that decision because of that break in time,” said Bill Avey, Helena and Lewis and Clark national forests supervisor. “The bottom line is, we have been working, have a long tradition of working with and we want to continue to work with Mr. Kornec and Mr. Nappo.”
As recently as July 30, Kornec and Nappo met with Forest Service officials in Lincoln to discuss developing an approvable operating plan, Avey said. Nappo agreed at the time that the plan needed to be rewritten, and that better communication was needed between the miners and the Forest Service in the future, he said.
“So why they have these other people up there is a mystery to us,” Avey said.
Here's hoping that cooler heads will prevail, and that this hate group does not get the big confrontation, publicity and martyrdom they so obviously seek.