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Close Window Alder Mill site owners file suit against state officials By Laurelle Walsh Tim Henderson, mine manager for NH&L Rare Earth LLC which ownsproperty containing part of the old Alder Mill south of Twisp, hasfiled a lawsuit in Okanogan County Superior Court against eightemployees of the state Department of Ecology (DOE) and one employeeof the state Office of Regulatory Assistance (ORA). The lawsuit, filed by Henderson on March 16, lists "Abuse ofPower; Harrassment; and Malfeasance" in the complaint by"NH&L Rare Earths" [sic]. The five-page complaint reads, in part: "The Plaintiffsallege that the Defendents in this Complaint have misused andabused their power over the plaintiffs. The Defendents haveindividually and collectively lied, coerced, defrauded, falsified,conceilled, blackmailed, and otherwise deceived the Plaintiffs. TheDefendents have collectively and individually abused their power ofauthority" [sic]. It"s not the first time Henderson has brought suit againstpublic officials he thought were hindering his mining efforts. NH&L"s current complaints all stem from a pre-applicationmeeting on Feb. 17 at DOE offices in Yakima, according toHenderson. All of the plaintiffs listed were present at themeeting, said Henderson, including four individuals whose names donot appear in the meeting minutes. "They were all there at the meeting even though theyweren"t listed on the minutes," said Henderson in aninterview. "They were the ones at the meeting that weregiving us a hard time. They misrepresented themselves. They werenot treating us right." Representing the mining company at the Feb. 17 meeting wereNH&L partners Richard Nevitt of Olympia, Jared Barker of Twispand Tim Henderson of Twisp. The state attorney general"s office is representing thedefendants in the lawsuit and recorded a notice of appearance inOkanogan County Superior Court on April 20. Joye Redfield-Wilder, communications manager for WashingtonDepartment of Ecology in Yakima stated in an email: "Thestate attorney general"s office is reviewing the claims thatMr. Henderson made in his complaint. It"s not appropriate atthis time to comment on specific allegations. However, Ecology andthe Office of Regulatory Assistance (ORA) take seriously our dutiesunder the law, and we work in good faith with the regulatedcommunity." Henderson, who said he has studied law, is acting as legalrepresentative for NH&L. By filing the lawsuit, Henderson said he was "hoping tostraighten them out so they don"t do it to somebody else.I"m giving them till the end of May to respond. Wehaven"t heard anything from them yet." History of legal complaints Henderson provided the News with documents from two similar actionshe took against federal employees during the past decade. Both complaints "were settled out of court," accordingto Henderson, but "had the desired effect. Everybody gotfired." In interviews with the News, the respondents disputedHenderson"s characterizations and said nobody was fired. The first was a lawsuit filed in Superior Court of Skamania Countyin October 2003 with Henderson representing Alaska Silver and GoldCorporation. Clifford Ligons, now-retired manager of Mount St. Helens NationalMonument, and a Forest Service employee, Rodger Lembrick, werelisted as defendants in the 2003 abuse-of-power complaint. Ligons told the News in a phone interview that Henderson had hadpermission to do exploratory work on a mining claim in the GiffordPinchot National Forest, in an area under Ligons"jurisdiction. After Henderson moved a bulldozer onto the claimwithout permission, Ligons issued a stop-work order, and orderedMr. Henderson "to get the heavy equipment out of theforest." At some point around the issuance of the stop-work order, Henderson"physically threatened" Lembrick, recalled Ligons."It was my decision to remove Rodger [Lembrick] from dealingwith him [Henderson]. An employee has a right not to be threatenedon the job," Ligons said. "That was the end of it," Ligons recalled. "I wasnever asked to go to court, and nobody was ever fired for givinghim [Henderson] a stop-work order." "According to federal law we were consistent in applyingmining law equally across the board with Henderson," Ligonssaid. The second complaint was from February 2007 when Henderson and hispartner Richard Nevitt represented Joe and Mary Cashman, owners ofthe Apex Mill in the Money Creek Mining District located in theMount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. The Cashmans had alreadybeen in contention with the Forest Service and other regulatoryagencies for at least a decade over permits and regulations, asreported in an October 1997 Seattle Times story. Henderson said his 2007 complaint was never filed in Superior Courtof King County. It listed 25 defendants including the nationalforest supervisor, the district ranger and Gale Norton, UnitedStates Secretary of the Interior at the time. A retired federal employee listed in the 2007 complaint told theNews in a phone interview, "I can tell you that no one wasfired as a result of Henderson"s complaint." "We were not trying to prohibit Mr. Cashman from mining, infact we bent over backwards to help him understand the rules andregulations. I was hoping that when Mr. Henderson came on thescene, he would help Mr. Cashman, who was quite elderly, understandthe need to follow environmental rules and regulations," theemployee, who asked not to be named, recalled."Henderson"s complaint was without merit. We were justasking him to comply with the law." Henderson said he made the 2003 and 2007 complaints because,"They"re supposed to be out there helping the people,but instead they are there to try to stop you." Next steps unclear Henderson said he is "in limbo" regarding next steps atthe site. He had planned to use a "simple" two-stack wave tablewith rare earth magnets built by Global Mining Solutions ofPrineville, Ore., to extract minerals from material dredged fromthe upper mill pond on NH&L"s property, Henderson said."The device is not working the way we had hoped." Plan B would be "doing it the hard way, using an acid such ascalcium chloride in a closed system," Henderson said."We are still assessing feasibility." Henderson said he was "waiting on some information from thetesting company in Spokane before going through with any permitapplications." Okanogan County Director of Planning Perry Huston said he hasreceived a few calls from neighbors of the Alder Mill site, but noactivity has been reported since he issued a stop-work order toNH&L on March 12. The county planning department has received no permit applicationsfrom NH&L, and no plan of operations, Huston said. Acknowledging that "quite a bit of disturbance"occurred around the Alder Mill site without a permit, Huston said,"At this time we do not require him [Henderson] to do anyrestoration. I don"t want him moving any more dirt around. Ijust want him to leave it alone." Ecology"s Redfield-Wilder said in an email, "In thiscase, Ecology and ORA have received no project proposal nor hastaken any action related to Mr. Henderson. This is all we can sayat this time." MV News file photo by Laurelle Walsh: Tim Henderson May 16, 2012 Date: 05-16-2012 Volume: 110 Issue: 1. 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