Tom Rathbun
Tom Rathbun
awful looking people problem solution time
There are an awful lot of people that have put time into making this happen, people who aren't looking at the problem and complaining, but looking for a solution to the problem.
billion problem rate time undertake
If you try to undertake what is a $5 billion problem here on a month-to-month basis, it's going to take a long, long time at that rate to see significant results. It's important to us to know how much we're getting and for how long.
problems since
These problems have been going on since 1990.
companies obsolete order paid spend
We don't want to order these companies to spend $100,000 on something that's going to be obsolete before it's paid for.
amended bigger concern despite management several
Management was a bigger concern to us than the finances. The reclamation just wasn't being done despite several amended agreements.
review welcome
We welcome any independent review of what we do.
falls roof
When a roof falls from 40 feet, it's going to be catastrophic.
government groups hands job local open sitting smaller solutions state waiting
We're not sitting on our hands waiting for someone to hand us money. With smaller watershed groups and state and local government being open to new ideas, our job is to see that other solutions are being put into practice.
site work
Work at that site has just come to a standstill.
addressing continue federal looking money wait
We're not going to wait around for federal money to continue addressing these problems. We're looking at other options.
meets mining needs permanent state
What we want is to find a more permanent arrangement, a long-term reauthorization (of the fund) that meets the needs of a state with our mining history.
clean creating good material money soon taxpayers
You have a material that can be used as fuel. As soon as you get the material out of the stream, it (the stream) improves. If we can clean streams while creating electricity, and it's not costing the taxpayers any money to clean up these streams, that's a good thing.
accident habits happen learn mining repeat sure work
Mining is dangerous, but it is work habits that make it unsafe. When there's an accident you need to learn from it, so you can make sure it doesn't happen again. You learn from the accident so it doesn't repeat itself.
filled kid lined mountain orange rivers trees
Mountain streams and rivers that were orange when I was a kid are now filled with fish, are now lined with trees and rhododendrons, and that's progress.