Babbitt Issues Parting Shots

"The Zortman-Landusky mine ushered in the modern era of mineral exploration when it opened here in the Little Rocky Mountains in 1979,using a newfangled cyanide-based process to extract about a pickup truck full of gold from about 200 million tons of rock. The hardrockmining industry has expanded tenfold since then, leaching billions of dollars worth of precious metals out of previously useless low-grade ore,transforming wide swaths of the western landscape in the process. According to federal statistics, it has also become America's most prolificpolluter, responsible for nearly half the nation's toxic emissions. Now, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt is using his final days in office to strike back, taking some aggressive parting shots at an industry hebattled throughout his eight-year tenure."

Thanks to Abhijeet Chavan