The claws come out - Nevada - Oil-Dri Corporation of America lawsuit - Brief Article

Sierra, March-April, 2003

Ah, the American West: Big sky, fresh air, room to set down roots and work the land. But if your dreams include opening a kitty litter mine, expect opposition. Chicago-based Oil-Dri Corporation of America, the world's largest producer of cat litter, has been fighting for several years to develop two open-pit clay mines on Bureau of Land Management property ten miles north of downtown Reno. Challengers included the Reno-Sparks Indian colony (which borders the mine site), the Toiyabe Chapter, and other regional environmental groups, which convinced Washoe County that the mine and adjacent processing plant on private land would increase traffic, noise, and air pollution.

When the county denied Oil-Dri's permit, the company sued and then turned to a kitty-litter-miner's best friend: the Bush administration. In October, the Justice Department filed a brief in U.S. District Court in Reno, charging that county officials violated the Mining Law of 1872. According to that archaic legislation, federal decisions supersede any local opposition to mining on public land. Mine opponents point out that the law was created to spur Manifest Destiny and the extraction of precious metals, not sales of Cat's Premium Pride kitty litter.