Mining exec: 'bad actor' label is bid to delay Montana mines

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The head of an Idaho mining company said Friday that Montana officials appeared to be seeking to delay two mines proposed for a remote wilderness area by designating him a "bad actor" because of past pollution at other sites.

Hecla Mining President Phillips S. Baker, Jr. is former vice president and chief financial officer for Pegasus Mining, which went bankrupt in 1998, leaving taxpayers to pay for costly pollution cleanups that included the Zortman-Landusky gold mine.

Montana regulators said last week that Hecla or Baker could have to reimburse more than $30 million in cleanup costs before it can proceed with two silver and copper mines beneath the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness.

The claim is based on Montana's so-called bad actor law that blocks individuals and companies that do not reclaim or pay for the reclamation of old mines from starting new ones.

Read more: https://www.chieftain.com/business/mining-exec-bad-actor-label-is-bid-to-delay-montana/article_f332c990-c51a-535a-8136-d8313f54ac13.html