Proposed kitty litter plan stirs controversy

Oil-Dri Corp. wants to strip mine clay on up to 5,700 acres of land owned by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

Besides concerns of damaging the landscape, dust and increased truck traffic, opponents question whether the company's mining claims are what was intended to by the 1872 Federal Mining Act.

Oil-Dri says it can harvest clay - possibly for the next 50 years - without permanently damaging the land or area residents' quality of life.

The state and Washoe County have pledged tax-exempt bonds to help finance the $11 million plant, which Oil-Dri hopes to begin building in January, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported Monday.

Residents like Diana Crutcher-Smith have joined with others to convince BLM officials not to permit the mine without an environmental impact statement.

"You can sit outside and the sun comes up over the mountain and it's beautiful," Crutcher-Smith said. "We wouldn't just rip up the ground. You have to have respect for the Earth.

"That mining company could be there 100 years. My concern is for my grandchildren."

The tribe, neighbors in Antelope Valley and other north valleys, Citizen Alert, the Sierra Club, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Alliance for Workers Rights and the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada have formed the Coalition against Residential Mining.

The Sierra Club's Toiyabe chapter believes mining for kitty litter would be an abuse of the 127-year-old mining law that allowed mines to be staked when the expected bonanza was gold and silver.

Oil-Dri's mining claims share a 3 1/2 -mile border with tribal land.

"It's a clear attack on the tribe and the community of color in general," said Bree Carlson, a member of the NAACP and the Progressive Leadership Alliance.

Kelly McGrail, Oil-Dri corporate communications director, denies any discriminatory action. McGrail said the site was chosen only because of the minerals.

The company says Hungry Valley is loaded with a very fine uncommon clay that would make first-class kitty litter. Oil-Dri obtained its claims of 5,700 acres in Hungry Valley in 1997 and located another 415 acres of claims in the northern end of the county in 1991.

Kitty litter is a $1 billion business and growing at a rate of 12 percent a year, according to company literature.

McGrail said the plant would spend millions of dollars on emission and dust controls and the land would be reclaimed as mining proceeds.

"In the end, all the land will look like a slightly rolling field, only it will roll in slightly different areas," McGrail said.

"We realize we are new to the area. You don't know who we are," she said. "We are going to make every effort to meet with community groups, individuals and the Indian colony so you will be comfortable with what we do."

John Singlaub, BLM field office manager in Carson City, said the first step in the permit process is to determine whether the claims are "locatable" under federal law. Locatable means the minerals contain a high value and are not an ordinary substance.

The BLM is awaiting a legal brief from the company defending the claims.

Oil-Dri's project manager Bill Thompson said the company has searched the West for 15 years to find the right clay to make the company's Cat's premium Pride Scoop 'N Flush and other kitty litter.

Thompson said the government has issued mining claims for clays in many other states.

Singlaub noted the company also was awarded a mining claim for clay in northern Washoe County.

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