Congressional hopeful and former state Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald is taking fire for a 2004 letter to Summit County officials in which she appears to support cyanide-based gold mining, a process abhorrent to many environmentalists.
County officials at the time planned to ban the method.
Fitz-Gerald campaign manager Mary Alice Mandarich on Tuesday said her candidate supports whatever method of extraction is safest, including cyanide mining.
“She supports whatever the safest process is for both the workers and the environment in the extraction of strategic minerals like gold,” she said.
Entrepreneur Jared Polis, one of her opponents for the 2nd Congressional District seat being vacated by Rep. Mark Udall, used the letter to further paint Fitz-Gerald as a darling of mining, oil and gas companies. Polis supports a nationwide ban on cyanide mining.
“You can’t sit here and claim to be an environmental leader and turn around and send a letter like this,” said Polis campaign manager Robert Becker, who characterized the note as a “special favor.”
County officials eventually passed the ban on cyanide heap-leach mining.
Jessica Fender: 303-954-1244 or jfender@denverpost.com
