Oregon does not have a rule problem when it comes to mining. Oregon has a Process and Perception Problem.
When the mining industry left Oregon in the early 1990s they really left Oregon and have not been seen again.
I along with clients have been laughed at by investors, brokers, and analysts from all over the world for even thinking of attempting to permit and open an industrial mine in the state of Oregon. Everyone thinks they know about Oregon and those in the market do not like what they think they know about us.
Oregon sends the wrong message when it comes to mining. It has given the impression to the market place that Oregon does not want any part of mining, even environmentally responsible mining. Oregon could market the state as “open for business” to those companies that are responsible and well-capitalized that could invest in Oregon. If you look at the DOGAMI website you can find information on earthquakes, tsunamis, thunder eggs and geologic sight-seeing but not much about creating jobs by providing any information for mining or our mineral resources.
Oregon does not promote itself like many of its competitor States and Countries do. It does not have any organized outreach process to explain to the world how Oregon has established rules in law, Division 37, to facilitate the exploration, permitting, opening, operation and reclamation of mines in Oregon to anyone. Division 37 is believed around the world, to prevent any kind of open pit or chemical mining in Oregon and that is the opposite of what Division 37 was passed to do. These regulations establish a well-defined process for permitting a mine in an environmentally responsible manner.
This perception problem causes two issues:
The first one shows itself in the fact that very little if any exploration work takes place in Oregon. The only way to have the exploration money and jobs flowing into the state is for the world to know that if an economical resource is developed there is a reasonable likelihood of the project being permitted.
The second challenge and probably the most important is that it makes it very, very difficult to raise the needed capital from investors to move a project forward in Oregon.
Now onto the process challenges:
When I say Oregon does not have a rule or law issue what I mean is that almost everything Division 37 is asking the State Agencies and the Mining Industry to identify, measure and investigate are items that the Mining Industry needs and wants to know about, State Agencies want and need to know about and the people of Oregon need to know about. Where the challenges come is in the timelines and seemingly lack of flexibility or unwillingness to formulate the process within the boundaries of best practices or established standards.
Case in point, one of my clients attempting to permit a mine has been waiting nearly 4 months for a decision on whether or not they have to shock a waterway to count the fish in the fall in a location that the spring studies already showed there is “no” waterway and there are “no” fish. Now on the surface it would not seem that this would be a difficult question but it is.
Within division 37 there’s no designated time line on the upfront process which is meeting with all state agencies together in the Technical Review Team, (TRT) to figure out the methodologies for gathering the baseline data and what studies need to be done. Only after an application is submitted is there a time line placed on anyone and that is the State of Oregon.
The process is cumbersome, Division 37 consolidated permitting of mining operations regulation were not developed to encourage a multi-level, multi-agency bureaucratic review process. The intent was to have small 2-4 person subcommittee’s with special expertise reviewing permitting deliverables and making timely decisions on these outputs. This has been shown to work effectively and timely when done.
Oregon and the Federal Land Management agencies do not seem to have a protocol for working together to avoid the duplication of efforts where those efforts should meet each side requirements. It is listed within Division 37 that they will but that has not proved to be the case up to this time. So far the process is looking to be duplicative. Division 37 was not intended to result in overlapping federal, state and local jurisdictions’ laws and regulations. To the contrary, the intent was to avoid duplication and repetition. This issue will take some kind of a legislative fix to make it truly a consolidated permitting process.
One client company is the first company through the door in Oregon to attempt to permit a mine in years so logic would tell us that it’s going to be the first time most of the State Agency personnel have ever dealt with a commercial gold mine also. This company has been very patient in helping when allowed and in waiting the extra time needed for State staff to get up to speed on their processes. There needs to be some flexibility developed in the interpretation of the laws and implementing the needed regulations. This could be accomplished with some room for best “Professional Judgment” or established “Best Mining Practices” to be used when viewing and reviewing a project in its totality.
Because of the TRT process used in division 37 and there being no track record for technical experience within the agencies involved, each regulator or staff member assigned to the team for review is interpreting the rules very stringently and independently of the overall project so the project then gets tied into dealing with some biases based on that staff members application of laws in other areas of their duties.
Exploration Companies, Mining Companies and Investors need certainty.
- They need certainty in the rules.
- They need certainty of timeline in the process.
- They want to work with communities and governments that have demonstrated a willingness to work with them if they are responsible companies.
I started this out by saying Oregon does not have a rule problem when it comes to mining.
But a threat that is weaved throughout the process is very serious. That is, all governmental agencies have a hyper sensitivity to the real problem when it comes to the management of our natural resources, LETIGATION.
Ever since special interest groups have been able to earn an income and stop about any kind of job creation by suing land management agencies the process has slowed to a crawl with everyone afraid to make a decision and over analyzing each and every word trying to guess how it will be challenged later in a court.
While this has been good for the special interest groups it has begun the cleansing of rural Oregon of people and the associated jobs from natural resources in which this State was created with. With these factors the citizens and their children left behind have slipped into a level of poverty that should make us all ashamed of ourselves.
This all is a fixable issue. We need some strong leadership with a clear vision of the future and a solid understanding of our past. If Oregon will do this it will attract environmentally responsible mining companies with demonstrated track records and the available financing to invest in our people and our State.
Andy Bentz is the managing member of Bentz Solutions, LLC and lives in Ontario, Oregon.
541-881-6320 www.bentzsolutions.com