From: Carol Godwin
Sent: Saturday, August 31, 2013 2:00 PM
To: Jason Pasco
Subject: Comstock Mining story

“Jason,
You run advertisements claiming your news is fair and unbiased. That is a lie. Your coverage for Comstock Mining is always positive pointing to all the jobs they are creating. Your comment on the stockholders meeting and all the company does, but only show a picture of people protesting that meeting. Their point of view is never investigated or shared.

I am glad people are getting jobs. I am not glad that my home and the home of my neighbors is now worthless. I moved into a residential neighborhood in a National Historic Site with tourism as the main industry. Now I am to be thrown into an industrial area with the noise, dust, traffic, and unsightly destruction of the environment that open pit mining brings. How can my family live in this environment? If we move away and leave our home, we will not be able to sell our house. We will leave with nothing. Everything we have put into it will go down the drain.

Nevada does not require an environmental study to be completed for mining on private land. The damage to our health is not a concern. What this will do to the status of the National Historic Site designation has not addressed. How can the tourism industry survive?

Is investigative reporting dead? Have you looked into the background of the people behind this company? How about talking to some people in the Comstock Residence Association?

If you by some chance are interested in actually being a fair and unbiased news station, let me know and I will get you the names and contact information of people who know what is going on.

Carol Godwin”

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From: Jason Pasco
To: Carol Godwin
Sent: Tue, Sep 3, 2013 12:53 pm
Subject: RE: Comstock Mining story

“Carol—

Thank you for your e-mail and for sharing your concerns about our coverage. Yesterday, we covered a story about the opposition to Comstock Mining and let people know about a meeting where they could voice concerns. Here’s a link: http://www.ktvn.com/category/170899/video-landing-page?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=9263821.

In addition, in the years that this controversial story has been going on, we have talked to those who oppose it many times. And yes, when the company first came to the area to start work there we did indeed look into their background and talk to the Comstock Resident’s Association in a series of stories done by Kristen Remington. I’m sorry you feel our coverage is too one-sided.

Thank you again for taking the time to write. I hope you will continue to watch Channel 2 News!”

Jason Pasco | News Director
KTVN Channel 2 News
4925 Energy Way, Reno, NV 89502
Newsroom: (775) 861-4290 | Direct: (775) 861-4254
jpasco@ktvn.com

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From: Carol Godwin
Sent: Wednesday, September 4th, 2013 2:00 PM
To: Jason Pasco
Subject: Comstock Mining story
“Jason,

We saw your coverage of the meeting. You presented Comstock Mining’s view of the problem and did not mention why the residents are upset. No one from your station was there to cover the meeting and find out about those concerns. In fact, some time ago when your reporter and photographer came to the meeting in Story County, we were there. They came in late disturbing the meeting and crowed over those of us standing in the back so they could set up their camera. They left before the residents had an opportunity to speak. I told the photographer that they were missing our point of view. I was told in a very nasty voice that we should have spoken earlier because they had to go. We of course had no control over when we were allowed to speak. Off they went, again in the middle of the meeting disturbing the proceedings.

Yes I saw Kristen Remington’s reporting. I even contacted her and urged her present our view. I got back a note that indicated she was not going to do that.

Did you know that the mining company promised to not work on weekends, to cover their trucks as they used the highway and to water down their side road to keep the dust down in Gold Hill? Those things did not happen. Our son, who lived in Gold Hill at the time could not open his windows because of the dirt blowing in his apartment. I said dirt not dust. Did you know that people could not sit outside on their patio because of the noise?

Did you know the bottom has fallen out of the real estate market here? Do you realize that if the company is allowed to put another open pit mine across the street from us, which they are trying to do, that my husband and I will be homeless. No one wants to buy a house on the edge of a pit mine, and we will be unable to live here because of the constant dust and noise from explosions, beeping machines, and large machinery. We are having a hard time with the smoke from the Rim Fire; the dust from the pit mine will make living here impossible. We will leave with nothing. That will be the case from a number of my neighbors.

We did not move into a mining area. Fourteen years ago we moved into a National Historic Site with an economy based on tourism and zoning for residential neighborhoods. When the Superfund investigation was done in the 1990s, they based their report on these factors. They did not take into consideration the idea that heavy mining was in the mix and the current Superfund representative, Jeff Collins, tells us this is a concern. He wonders about the safety of the people working at the mine site.

While we have no problem with people getting jobs, we do not see why we and our neighbors have to pay for those salaries with our homes. There is also the threat of losing the National Historic Site designation. How will that effect the tourist economy of the region? How will the current mine explosions effect the precarious network of mine shafts underneath Virginia City?

Had you bothered to attend the meeting last night, you would have heard the many problems residents have with the current open pit mine. Explosions grate nerves. Beeping from big machinery and the noise of heavy machinery disturbs sleep. People worry about the dust and the effect on their children.

Did you know that Nevada requires no environmental investigations for mining on private lands? We have no idea the impact of this mining operation on our air and water. Did you know that in Nevada, reclamation of a pit mine just means doing the minimum for safety for people and the environment? The state demands that mining companies put down a bond to cover that minimum work, but the site is left degraded, ugly.

You have not presented our point of view, not even close.

Carol and Wil Godwin”