The proposed mining operation would have removed 10,000 tons of
copper and silver ore per day from under the Cabinet Mountains
Wilderness, seven days a week, for 35 years. The resulting loss
of more than 7,000 acres of habitat would be devastating to the
15 or fewer grizzly bears that survive in the Cabinet Mountains.
In the ruling, the court noted evidence that the area’s tiny
grizzly bear population appears to be declining and concluded,
"given the clear possibility that bears are at least not
increasing, contemplating the loss of additional bears related
to the mine is not rational." The mine also would have dumped up
to three million gallons of waste water each day into the Clark
Fork River, and threatened to destroy the bull trout population
in Rock Creek, a tributary of the Clark Fork. The court ruled
that the Fish and Wildlife Service had written off the Rock
Creek population without properly considering the full range of
threats facing the bull trout species. The proposed Rock Creek
Mine faced vehemen