Idaho
Mining is necessary, but must be done responsibly, Idaho Conservation League report says • Idaho Capital Sun
Mining has played an important role in shaping Idaho, but the Idaho Conservation League is working to raise awareness about the long-lasting environmental damage caused by mining in the Gem State.
A new report from the nonprofit, Unearthing Idaho: Mining and Environmental Impacts in the Gem State, provides guidance on balancing the demand for minerals with protecting Idaho’s environment. It was published to address concerns about new mining projects, increased exploration efforts and issues with abandoned mines, said Josh Johnson, the central Idaho director for the Idaho Conservation League.
Johnson acknowledged the need for mining, noting that resources like cars, cellphones and computers and renewable energy technology rely on mined materials, some of which come from Idaho.
“Mining is a huge part of Idaho’s history and in our heritage here,” Johnson told the Idaho Capital Sun. “We are blessed with a lot of natural resources, and there is a reason for us to use those mineral resources. But I think we need to recognize that this mining is not appropriate everywhere, and it needs to be done the right way.”
Johnson said the organization looks at mining projects in Idaho on a case-by-case basis, and that it does not generalize mining across Idaho. The report includes a list of best practices that it hopes mining companies will adopt.
A look at Idaho’s mining history
Though mining shaped Idaho’s history, it has created lasting environmental challenges.
Idaho’s mining history dates back to the late 1800s, when the region became part of a late gold rush, historian Troy Lambert told the Idaho Capital Sun. After the discovery of gold in 1860, mining soon became Idaho’s dominant industry, surpassing agriculture and livestock, according to Idaho’s 1899 inaugural mining report.
The rush for resources didn’t stop at gold. Many discovered silver, lead and copper deposits, particularly in North Idaho’s Shoshone County, which would go on to lead the nation in silver production for decades.
(Screenshot of Report of the Inspector of Mines for the State of Idaho, 1899)
For decades, Idaho spearheaded the mining industry, even offering mining programs through the University of Idaho’s School of Mines, established in 1917 to support the state’s demand for mining expertise. During World War II, Stibnite Mine near Yellow Pine became the nation’s leading producer of antimony and tungsten, which were used for bullet production and metal strengthening, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
However, Idaho’s mining industry, like the rest of the nation’s, began to decline in the late 1900s for several reasons, including the rising costs of extracting deeper resources, the end of World War II mining subsidies and the introduction of environmental regulations like the Clean Air and Water acts from the 1970s, Lambert said.
This led to a declining interest in mining. By 2002, the University of Idaho closed its mining school, and many of those courses were restructured into other colleges on campus, university spokesperson Jodi Walker told the Sun.
The Clean Air and Water acts, in particular, significantly changed Idaho’s mining practices. Before these regulations, historical mining projects operated under the idea of “dilution as the solution,” assuming polluted water would naturally clean itself as it traveled downstream, Lambert said.
“For a long time it was just a really dirty process, especially the milling process … the outhouses over the stream,” Lambert said. “They poisoned the land, the water and all of that downstream. Those dirty mining practices are still having an impact on how we manage the environment in those areas today.”
Lambert said mining in Idaho was seen as a very noble profession, where men would risk their lives to work. While mining has died down in Idaho and the U.S. as a whole, Lambert said mining worldwide has not.
“If we don’t mine here, it’s gonna happen elsewhere in the world,” he said, adding that the U.S. has child labor laws and modern environmental standards to ensure more ethical and sustainable practices.
Report highlights mining projects that left, and could leave scars on Idaho
Today, mining makes up for less than 1% of the Gem State’s economy. There are six operating mines left in Idaho, with three phosphate mines in southeast Idaho and three metal mines in North Idaho.
But historical and modern mining projects continue to affect Idaho’s landscape. From lead contamination from the Bunker Hill smelter to coal mining runoff in British Columbia contaminating the Kootenai River — Idaho’s waterways and wildlife habitats are still suffering from the damage caused by mining, the report says.
The report includes a non-exhaustive list of mining projects across Idaho, that the Idaho Conservation League says warrant the attention of Idahoans. Some are mineral exploration projects, such as the CuMo Exploration Project outside of Idaho City, and others are in the permitting process, such as Stibnite Gold Mine.
Biden signs law to clean up abandoned mines across the western U.S.
The report, Johnson said, argues that while mining is necessary, it must be done responsibly. By offering a list of best practices, the Idaho Conservation League hopes to help mining companies and permitting regulators mitigate the environmental impact of new and ongoing projects.
There are still 8,800 abandoned mines in the state, according to the report. However, Johnson said a new federal law signed on Dec. 17 to clean up abandoned mines in the West is a step in the right direction. The law was sponsored by U.S. Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho. The next step to address mining issues would be to reform the General Mining Law of 1872, which Johnson said favors mining over any other use of public land.
“We’re not trying to shut down the mining industry in Idaho,” Johnson said. “What we’re trying to do is improve projects and say that some places in Idaho are really special and should be off limits to mining.”
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Gov. Brad Little has signed House Bill 533, which would remove the need for license plate stickers on Idaho vehicles.
The legislation, introduced earlier this session by Rep. Jon Weber (R) of Boise, eliminates the requirement for registration stickers on Idaho license plates. Weber stated during the bills intorduction that officers can verify the status of license plates without the stickers, potentially saving the state around $300,000.
During the bill’s introduction, some lawmakers argued that it could increase the workload for law enforcement.
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The new law is set to take effect in July.
For the second year in a row, House lawmakers will consider urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.
The nonbinding resolution, which carries no legal weight, says the decision in Obergefel v. Hodges violates the longstanding religious definition of marriage between one man and one woman.
“The current definition of marriage that allows for same-sex marriages is a defilement of the word marriage,” said Rep. Tony Wisniewski (R-Post Falls), who sponsors the measure.
The resolution further states that the Obergefel decision “arbitrarily and unjustly” rejects the historical definition of marriage.
Idaho voters passed a constitution amendment in 2006 that defines marriage as between one man and one woman, which was invalidated by the Obergefel ruling.
Wisniewski said regulating marriages should be a power left to the states.
Rep. Brent Crane (R-Nampa) agrees.
“If you want to get things … closer to the people with respect to some of these more complex social issues, I think the best place for those things to happen is in the states,” Crane said.
Doing so is a risk, he said.
“You may have states that choose to acknowledge [polyamorous relationships]. You may have states that choose to have relationships between adults and younger children,” Crane said.
Cities in neighboring Oregon and Washington, for example, are considering giving those in polyamorous relationships legal recognition.
But he said that risk is worth it to allow other states that choose to only recognize traditional marriages.
Four lawmakers on the House State Affairs Committee opposed the resolution.
Rep. Erin Bingham (R-Idaho Falls) said she’s tried to balance her own religious beliefs with those of others while considering the measure.
“I do feel like that it is important for us to work together, to find ways to compromise and to live together in peace and mutual respect,” Bingham said.
The resolution now goes to the House floor for consideration.
House lawmakers last year passed a similar measure, but it never received a hearing in a Senate committee.
Copyright 2026 Boise State Public Radio
Idaho
University of Idaho professor awarded $10M after TikTok tarot influencer claimed she ‘ordered’ quadruple murders
A University of Idaho professor won a $10 million judgment after a tarot TikTok influencer publicly pushed false claims that she was behind the savage quadruple slayings of four college students.
A Boise jury in US District Court ordered fortune-telling Texas TikToker Ashley Guillard on Friday to pay $10 million after concluding she falsely accused professor Rebecca Scofield of having a secret romance with one of the four victims and orchestrating their killings, the Idaho Statesman reported.
Following the verdict, Scofield thanked the jury and said she hopes the case sends a clear warning that making “false statements online have consequences in the real world.”
“The murders of the four students on November 13, 2022, were the darkest chapter in our university’s history,” Scofield told Fox News.
“Today’s decision shows that respect and care should always be granted to victims during these tragedies. I am hopeful that this difficult chapter in my life is over, and I can return to a more normal life with my family and the wonderful Moscow community.”
Scofield, the university’s history department chair, filed the lawsuit in December 2022 — just weeks after Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were brutally stabbed to death at an off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022.
Guillard began uploading videos to her more than 100,000 TikTok followers in late November 2022, accusing Scofield of a secret relationship with one of the students and claiming she had “ordered” the killings, garnering millions of views across the social media platform.
The complaint states that Scofield had never met the victims and was out of state when the murders occurred.
Even after being served with cease-and-desist letters and after police publicly confirmed Scofield had no connection to the murders, the Houston-based tarot reader continued posting videos, the history professor’s legal team argued.
Guillard doubled down on her accusations against Scofield after being sued, posting a defiant video saying, “I am not stopping,” and challenging why Scofield needed three lawyers to sue her “if she’s so innocent.”
The professor’s legal team argued the defamatory accusations painted her as a criminal and accused her of professional misconduct that could derail her career.
Bryan Kohberger, then studying criminology at Washington State University, pleaded guilty in July 2025 to the quadruple murders in a deal that took the death penalty off the table. He is currently serving four consecutive life sentences in Idaho.
In June 2024, Chief US Magistrate Judge Raymond Patricco found Guillard’s statements legally defamatory, leaving damages to be decided by a jury.
During the damages trial, Scofield described the anguish of seeing her name tied to the murders online, the Idaho Statesman reported.
However, Guillard, acting as her own attorney, insisted her comments were simply beliefs based on tarot card readings.
She claimed to have psychic powers and testified that she relied on tarot cards to try to solve the shocking homicides that shook the rural college town and sparked global attention.
It took jurors less than two hours to return their verdict, the outlet reported.
The jury awarded Scofield $7.5 million in punitive damages in addition to $2.5 million in compensatory damages.
With Post wires
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