The Equal Protection clause in the US constitution could breath new life into a proposed potash mine 30 miles north of Wendover or kill s gold mine 30 miles to the west of the Nevada/Utah border town.
Otherwise know as the “sauce for the goose” clause, the Equal Protection Clause is part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides that no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction “the equal protection of the laws”.
A primary motivation for this clause was to validate and perpetuate the equality provisions contained in the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which guaranteed that all people would have rights equal to those of white citizens. As a whole, the Fourteenth Amendment marked a large shift in American constitutionalism, by applying substantially more constitutional restrictions against the states than had applied before the Civil War.
“My lawyers think I have a pretty good case,” said Foster Wilson President and CEO of Mesa Mining. The companies efforts to dig a potash mine about 30 miles north of Wendover was denied by the federal Bureau of Land management last year on the grounds that the mine would be located in the same general area of Hasting’s Cutoff
“One of the main reasons we were denied in Pilot Valley was because of the California Trail (CHT) – Hastings Cutoff,” wrote Wilson in an e-mail to the High Desert Advocate.
The Hastings Cutoff crosses the Long Canyon project in Elko County Nevada to the west of Pilot Valley and is designated a high-potential segment, just like at Pilot Valley.
Nevada BLM did not require any changes/amendments to the Resource Management Plan (RMP) however Utah BLM determined amendments were necessary for the RMP plans covering Pilot Valley and that was impossible because they claimed DoD would have to sign off on any amendments and DoD never responds.
Just a red herring to stop development.”
According to Wilson the Utah office of the BLM buckled to the pressure of the Califonia and Oregon Trail preservationist while the Nevada office did not.
“It is the same trail,”Wilson said Wednesday. “Why is development not only be allowed in Nevada but imbrued but in Utah it is being stopped?”
the answer to Wilson’s question could be because the California Trails group has much more political pull in Utah than it does in Nevada.
Opposition to the project was spearheaded by the Oregon-California Trails Association which began a letter campaign against the proposed mine because of its proximity to the Hastings Cutoff, the “shortcut taken by the infamous Donner Party as well as four other wagon trains in the mid 1800’s.
The Oregon-California Trails Association is the nation’s largest and most influential organization dedicated to the preservation and protection of overland emigrant trails and the emigrant experience.
“Mesa claims to have Utah Senators Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee, along with Congressman Rob Bishop, leaning on the Bureau of Land Management to authorize the project to “reduce dependence on foreign producers,” “provide economic development,” and jobs, jobs, jobs!” Wrote OCTA Utah member Will Bagley, on the Association’s website this June. “Genesis tells the ancient tale of how Esau sold his birthright to his brother Jacob for a bowl of lentil stew. For thousands of years, this “mess of pottage” has represented something worthless that is foolishly traded for an immensely more valuable birthright.
For many of us, the playa at Pilot Peak is a national treasure, what the Park Service calls a place that is “fragile, sensitive, rare, irreplaceable, exemplary, unique, and vulnerable to adverse change.” The American past has an almost magical ability to disappear, but beneath the looming majesty of Pilot Peak, silent stretches of the Hastings Cutoff endure. The singular landscape of the Pilot Peak Playa should be a National Monument, not a strip mine.”
Wilson was more than a little taken aback by the vehement and biblical opposition to his modest project.
“I am all for preserving history,” said Foster Williams. “And I think this country has done a pretty good job. The main trail is marked over 2,000 miles across six states. Locally there is an Oregon Trail Interactive Center in Elko. But the Hastings cutoff was used by just four trains and is only note worthy because of the Donner Party.”
The Donner Party’s claim to infamy came several weeks after they took the Hasting Cutoff when against advice from experts attempted to cross California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains in late fall, got stuck in an early snow storm and resorted to cannibalism to survive the winter.
In the time leading up to the BLM’s decision, Wilson said, the OCTA refused any kind of compromise with the proposed mine.
“They told us to go mine elsewhere, the only problem is none of their suggestions had potash.” Wilson said.
Humans need potassium to build proteins, break down and use carbohydrates, build muscle, maintain normal body growth, control the electrical activity of the heart and control the acid-base balance.
It has a vital role in plant metabolism, growth and adaptation to stress and drought and pest resistance. Adequate amounts of potash must be available in the soil for its uptake by roots to ensure that crops achieve economic yields of acceptable quality. Currently the U.S. imports 85% of its potash needs; Utah is one of only three states in the U.S. that produces potash.
“Mesa believes that a low impact potash mine can co-exist with the trail; the potash resource is a shallow brine aquifer and can move under the trail, similar to how groundwater can move in an aquifer. We plan to rigorously defend our potash prospecting applications, to develop the area, subject to further studies, into a profitable and environmentally sustainable potash mining operation, generating long term Federal and State royalties and much needed employment opportunities for the residents of the region. ”Wilson added, “Mesa has the support of U.S. Senators Hatch, Lee and Heller, U.S. Congressmen Bishop and Amodei, several Commissioners (from the three counties effected) and Mayor Carter of West Wendover; we are currently in consultation with these individuals and other interested parties to assist with our appeal of this action by the BLM”.