Blues Canyon

In southeastern Idaho, within the vast expanse of national forests, wild roadless areas, and blue-ribbon trout streams that make up the greater Yellowstone region, the Smoky Canyon Mine has earned notoriety as one of the area's worst polluters. Owned by the J. R. Simplot Company, the phosphate mining operation leaves tailings with extraordinarily high levels of selenium, a naturally occurring yet toxic element that is poisoning the nearby rivers and streams of the Caribou-Targhee National Forest -- part of the broader region that NRDC is campaigning to protect through its BioGems initiative. Selenium is wreaking havoc on the region: Idaho officials have advised residents to limit consumption of fish from local waters, and several flocks of sheep have died after drinking from streams or eating grass tainted by selenium. The mine is listed as a Superfund site, and though virtually no cleanup has been done, Simplot has proposed to expand the Smoky Canyon Mine, and the Bush ad-ministration seems poised to approve its plan. Visit http://www.savebiogems.org/ to learn more.