It’s interesting how the organizers and original investors of Comstock Mining Inc (CMI) seem to have failed to anticipate important problems they would face in attempting major surface mining on the historic Comstock.

• CMI got off on the wrong foot when they arrived on the Comstock like carpetbaggers proclaiming that they were doing us all a big favor and going to “revitalize” the Comstock. The line in one of their consultant reports on Silver City (CMI’s Dayton Resource Area) about having to move some residences didn’t help.

• Most of their holdings are located within the Carson River Mercury Superfund Site established in 1990.

• Virtually all CMI holdings lie within the Virginia City National Historic Landmark listed by the National Park Service since 2004 as endangered due to cumulative impacts of surface mining.

• Private lands and patented mining claims controlled by CMI are islands in a sea of public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Application to cross or use public land is likely to trigger an environmental study because of the status of the Historic Landmark.

• Memory of the 1979-83 Houston Oil and Minerals fiasco in Gold Hill remains fresh in the minds of residents up and down the Comstock. The Houston pit - collapsed and unremediated, serves as a daily reminder for residents and tourists driving along State Route 342.

• Residents of Silver City successfully fought the 1986 Nevex Mining Inc. proposal to place an open pit mine in the town. CMI’s Dayton Resource Area occupies essentially the same ground as the proposed Nevex mine, nearly all of which lies within residential zoning.

•  These and other experiences with Comstock mines and mining proposals have resulted in an aroused citizenry savvy about fighting for their property rights, quality of life and historic preservation.

CMI is now operating in a highly regulated and adversarial situation. In June 2011, Governor Sandoval signed Senate Bill 86 that removed the right of eminent domain for miners in order to protect property rights of ranchers and home owners. Comstock residents testified in the hearings for this bill.

Residents also organized against surface mining in the National Historical Landmark and lobbied successfully to strengthen provisions of CMI’s Storey County special use permit, and to attach an unprecedented toxic metals sampling plan to the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection (NDEP) remediation permit. Storey County is now considering a regulation prohibiting large-scale surface mining in important view-sheds.

Citizen watchdogs closely monitor CMI’s every move and promptly notify local, state and Federal regulators of any perceived violations. This has resulted in two cease and desist orders: one from NDEP regarding sediment deposited in Gold Canyon Creek (since remediated) and a more serious order from BLM regarding trespass that has blocked CMI’s proposed haul road.

No one has been able to make much money mining on the Comstock since it’s historical heyday in the 19th Century, including CMI’s predecessors, Plum Mining and Gold Springs. CMI’s seeming ignorance of recent history, environmental and land use problems, the regulatory situation, and citizen attitudes has made things more difficult and costly for them.

I doubt that the “Big Boys” in Nevada mining (Newmont Mining, Barrick Gold Corp., among others) would have touched this project with a ten foot pole. They want to operate in a hassle-free, know-what’s-coming environment out on the empty public land far from historic landmarks, toxic waste, residences and residents.