California versus Glamis Gold
Published by MAC on 2002-12-13
California versus Glamis Gold
Glamis Gold, a Canadian junior company, is furious that the state of California has blocked its gold project. It accuses the authorities of imposing "extraordinary" conditions for post-mine rehabilitation which, it says, no company could be expected to meet. In a law suit Glamis claims that these moves are not only "unprecedented" but illegal. In fact the state of California is simply invoking industry "best practice". Glamis also accuses California of contravening a decision by the recently-appointed federal Secretary of the Interior, who has reversed a "no mining" ruling by a previous Secretary and the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
At the core of California's opposition to Glamis is the protected status of land surrounding the prospective mine, and the strident opposition of Native Americans who say their sacred pathway would be violated by the project. Glamis is now threatening to invoke NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) in support of its case, as well as the notorious 1872 US Mining Act which, for a hundred and thirty years, has licensed the virtual give-away of public lands to extractive companies.
Read the Glamis court submission here and make up your own mind about the issues