with a total cost of mitigation of $1.5 million, the
report says.
The money was to go into a fund administered
by NDOW, which has no direct statutory authority for the
acquisition of funds from persons alleged to be affecting
habitat, the report says.
After several meetings to resolve the issue,
Molini and IMC President Robert Zerga agreed Sept. 30,
1992, on a formula that brought IMC's mitigation fee to
$500,000.
"Giving NDOW the power to obtain and
distribute funds not under legislative control ...
eliminates the check and balance system of government and
that the abuse of power by NDOW against IMC was the
natural result," the grand jury says.
"The grand jury has found indictable
criminal activity in this investigation and would
recommend prosecution but for the fact that the statute
of limitations on gross misdemeanors has passed."
The grand jury said it heard testimony from
other mining representatives that their companies had not
been forced to participate in any off-site mitigations
that required a payment before permits were issued. The
mining representatives from Barrick Goldstrike, Newmont
Mining
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and Placer Dome U.S.
also testified they had been involved with wildlife
mitigation before, but only with the U.S. Bureau of Land
Management, which never allowed NDOW to dictate terms.
"It is evident to the grand jury that two
factors placed IMC in a different position," the
report says. "It was a company without a
sophisticated lobbying program and it was dealing with
the USFS rather than BLM." The grand jury also found
a federal law, the Pitman-Robertson Act, which would have
supplemented any contribution made by IMC at a 3:1 ratio.
The grand jury says IMC was unaware of the law, but NDOW
had full knowledge of the act and its use.
"Had NDOW been successful in obtaining
$1.5 million from IMC as it originally demanded,
application of the Pitman-Robertson Act would have given
NDOW approximately $6 million to pay for mitigation costs
of only $500,000," the report says.
The grand jury recommended its report be
forwarded to Molini's boss, Pete Morros, director of the
Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources,
and to the Nevada Legislature for review.
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