Bush Administration Criticizes Tiffany
Mar 25, 9:24 PM (ET)

By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - The jeweler Tiffany & Co. (TIF) is publicly opposing plans
for a silver and copper mine beneath a wilderness area in Montana, prompting a
forceful response Thursday from the Bush administration.

Tiffany officials paid for an open letter published Wednesday in The Washington
Post that asked Forest Service chief Dale Bosworth, whose agency has approved
the mine, to block construction. The mine would require boring three miles under
the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness Area near the Montana-Idaho border.

Mark Rey, an undersecretary of the Department of Agriculture, said the letter
signed by Tiffany's chief executive was filled with errors, though he declined
to say what they were.

"I'm guessing this ad in The Washington Post cost upwards of $50,000," said Rey,
director of the administration's forest policy, in a telephone interview. "For
$49,999.63 less, they could have sent us this letter and given their customers a
discount on their products."

Mining interests also criticized Tiffany, suggesting the company was responding
to threats of boycotts of its jewelry from environmentalists opposed to the
mine.

The Forest Service approved the mine in June, but nine environmental groups have
sued to stop construction, saying the mine would hurt grizzly bears and bull
trout in the area.

Bosworth planned to meet April 15 with Michael J. Kowalski, chairman and chief
executive officer of Tiffany, who signed the open letter, Rey said.

Officials with New York-based Tiffany, a 167-year-old company whose name is
synonymous with fine jewelry, stood by the contents of the open letter and
called for reform in federal mining policy.

"It is by no means the first time that we have communicated with appropriate
government officials about our desire to see precious metals and gemstones
extracted in environmentally and socially responsible ways," the company
said. "Our record on that score goes back nearly a decade."