The local Water Conservancy Board is now demanding that BMG be responsible for the perpetual cleaning of polluted groundwater. Around the West, it is difficult to dispute evidence that mining activities have caused health problems, but like in the case of Libby, corporations wield tremendous political clout. Agencies and W.R. Grace also confused and obscured investigations of workers' illnesses. It is difficult to determine whether the government health officials were trying to protect the workers or the company, according to these articles. Meanwhile, in the courts, with 120 out of 187 cases against Grace pending, the district court in Libby is permitting only one civil action every three months.
Violations often boil down to a problem between the regulated and the regulators.
Government regulators are often underpaid and overworked. They have a choice. Some however, are not so easily bought off. It is rather easy to document abuses of the mining industry throughout history. It is much harder to show an economically depressed area the consequences of embracing modern open pit, cyanide leach gold mining.