The Good Neighbor Agreement (GNA) has been beneficial for Sibanye Stillwater and for those living near the mines.
“We need to celebrate that we've done something good,” said Paul Hawks, Northern Plain Resource Council member.
“The value of it is really measurable,” said Heather McDowell, Sibanye Stillwater senior vice president of legal and external affairs.
Sibanye Stillwater and the Northern Plains Resource Council celebrated the 25th anniversary of the GNA at the Stillwater County Civic Center on Thursday, and both say the agreement is really based on how neighbors have treated each other in agriculture communities.
“The rural west neighboring is a verb,” Hawks said. “And you need your neighbors, you need help from them. You look out for what they've got going on their ranches.”
Hawks is a rancher near Melville and McDowell grew up on a ranch in Bridger.
“We aren't just a neighbor,” McDowell said. “But we actually do neighboring where we help each other. We hold each other accountable. We're really in these small rural communities. Your neighbors are your family.”
The GNA helps keep water clean and deals with traffic.
It's quite a unique cooperation between the company and the environmental groups.
“That's the beauty of our agreement that we try to be proactive and figure out ahead of time if there's going to be a problem,” Hawks said. “And then if we see something, where is it coming from? What can we do?”
“There's respect,” McDowell said. “We really have gotten to a place where we understand each other very well. It's a very type of gracious space.”
On May 8, 2000, Stillwater Mining Company signed the agreement with the Northern Plains Resource Council, the Cottonwood Resource Council, and the Stillwater Protective Association.
But they say in 2000 it all started a little rough.
It took about 5 years and dedication from both sides willing to work together to overcome those challenges, and it's a special combination of people that created a unique agreement that can serve as a model around the country.
“We were just wanting to make sure they did it right, so I think in retrospect now maybe maybe people are glad we did what we did,” Hawks said.
“The Good Neighbor agreement, it really is the cornerstone of our operations here in Montana,” McDowell said.
