Sunrise Gold
A film by Ethan Fichtner
On September 27, 2021, the Inyo National Forest District 5 Ranger signed a categorical exclusion approving exploratory drilling at Hot Creek.
Hot Creek Geologic Site, ten miles east of Mammoth Lakes, California is the ancestral homelands of the Kootzaduka’a Tribe, the southernmost band of the Numu People. Hot Creek and the surrounding Yosemite/Mono Lake Basin is still utilized and inhabited by the Kootzaduka’a today.
At turn of the 20th century, Mammoth Lakes arose as a popular tourist destination and has held that reputation into today. Many people travel from around the world to fish the headwaters of the Owens River, ski Mammoth Mountain, soak in the geothermal hot tubs, and enjoy the breathtaking beauty of the Sierra Nevada.
This region, know as the Long Valley, is home to several unique plant and animal species, including the Bi-State Sage Grouse, a species that has been petitioned to be filed under the endangered species act. Part of the headwaters of the Owens River, this watershed is not only important to our local wildlife and communities, but also provides drinking water to the residents of Los Angeles.
Exploratory drilling for gold, under operation by KORE Mining, was approved in 2021. The company was set to commence drilling Nov. 30th, 2021 but a blizzard prevented them from doing so. Several organizations took KORE Mining and the USFS to court, with a temporary win for us in August of 2023! (Learn more about our win in court below). If KORE is successful in their exploratory drilling process, there is potential for an open pit, cyanide heap leach mine to occur. It is critical that we protect the fragile headwaters of the Owens and adjacent ecosystems, as well as our local small town economies.
In September 2021, the Inyo National Forest gave Canadian Company Kore Mining the green light to begin exploratory drilling at Hot Creek. This permit was granted under the Categorical Exclusion process, which provides for the lowest possible environmental review. Several organizations, including the Sierra Club Range of Light Group, Friends of the Inyo, Center for Biological Diversity, and Western Watersheds Project sued KORE Mining and the US Forest Service on the grounds that the USFS had improperly granted the permits, ignoring the significant potential environmental impacts to Long Valley. These impacts would not just be to the land, but to wildlife, including a dwindling Bi-State Sage Grouse population, as well as the endangered Owens Tui Chub fish. Further, the permit improperly failed to provide that all drilling and remediation work be completed within one year, which is required for projects operating under a Categorical Exclusion.
After the lower district court ruled in favor of KORE and the USFS in 2022, the plaintiff organizations appealed the ruling to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and a hearing was held on August 24th, 2023.
As we know, KORE had announced to the public that they would be arriving as soon as September 1st, 2023. Because of the immediacy of KORE's arrival, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals made a prompt decision just one day after the hearing.
On August 25th, the court reversed the previous district court's decision and overturned the U.S. Forest Service's approval of exploratory drilling at Hot Creek! This decision invalidates the USFS use of a categorical exclusion that concluded no harm would be done by the project. While this was a short immediate ruling, the court will be publishing a longer opinion later with greater details and instruction for the USFS and KORE. It is important to remember that this is a temporary win; while KORE will not be showing up this September for exploratory drilling, Hot Creek is still under threat from the mining company and long term protection is still needed.
What are the Facts?
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What is Hot Creek?
Learn more about Hot Creek Geologic Site, Mammoth Lakes, and the greater Eastern Sierra.
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The Proposal
What threatens Hot Creek? Click to learn more about Kore Mining and the future of extractive industry in the Long Valley.
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What is at Risk?
Why protect Hot Creek? Learn more about the environmental and economic impacts of the proposed mine.