Route change

Last week, the Bureau of Land Management moved to restrict the right-of-way for Comstock Mining, Inc., permitting the company to use Hauling Route 341. Previously, CMI had been hauling ore on Nevada State Route 342, the main road through Virginia City.

The Comstock Residents Association, which has been organizing against mining on the Comstock, was heartened by the decision, but criticized the BLM for continuing to overlook the environmental impact of mining.

“The BLM, in allowing even a limited right of way over these public lands, an area which indicates for high levels of arsenic and other toxins from historic abuses, enables what we believe to be irresponsible mining operations, in a designated Mercury Superfund Site, that endanger natural springs and waterways crucial to wildlife, the environment and human habitation,” read a statement released by the CRA. “The determination in no way affects the Environmental Assessment, now going forward, and the CRA remains convinced that more concerns will come to light through the process.”

CMI began hauling ore on S.R. 342 last August.