SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
A nearly 50-year-old mining fight in Colorado is finally over. Locals in the ski town of Crested Butte celebrated last week after an iconic mountain called the Red Lady was forever protected from mining. Colorado Public Radio's Nathaniel Minor has more.
NATHANIEL MINOR, BYLINE: Hundreds of people packed downtown Crested Butte for a street dance. At the front of the crowd were a dozen or so women twirling in red dresses.
BARRY BEASLEY: We love celebrating Red Lady.
SEAN MCGRATH: Life is fine without a mine. Woo (ph).
MINOR: Locals like Barry Beasley (ph) and Sean McGrath (ph) call Mount Emmons the Red Lady because it glows at dawn and dusk. It's been illegal to ski on the mountain until now.
BEASLEY: I will start. But, you know...
MINOR: Yeah. You will start.
BEASLEY: I never skied down before.
MCGRATH: Wait. It was illegal to ski?
MINOR: It was illegal. Yeah.
MCGRATH: (Laughter).
MINOR: Mount Emmons is a combination of private and U.S. Forest Service land. Locals have been fighting for years to keep mining companies from digging out its molybdenum, a metal that's added to steel to harden it. The fight finally ended this summer, finishing a story that began in the 1970s. That's when people like Sue Navy moved here and organized against the first proposed mine.
SUE NAVY: What was being proposed would have desecrated several valleys and water sources, and it would have turned this place into an industrial zone, if not a wasteland.
MINOR: The initial mine plan died out in the early '80s, when molybdenum prices crashed. But the threat lingered. Navy's nonprofit and others have advocated for the Red Lady as mining companies have come and gone. Finally, a turning point came in 2016. Global mining giant Freeport-McMoRan bought the land. The company didn't agree to an interview but, in a statement, said they never intended to open a molybdenum mine. Instead, they negotiated a complex deal where they gave up their mining rights and, in return, got land that will help them better care for their defunct and polluting silver mine nearby. That deal was finalized this year. A day after the street party, Sue Navy and others climb up to the Red Lady summit at 12,400 feet.
NAVY: I am feeling absolutely elated. I can't explain how it feels to be on the top of the mountain that you worked for 47 years to protect.
MINOR: Navy says she never doubted the mountain would be forever saved. She says she'll enjoy this victory for the rest of her life. For NPR News, I'm Nathaniel Minor in Crested Butte, Colorado. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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