Archaic mining law may finally see change

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June 2002

Archaic mining law may finally see change
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Archaic mining law may finally see change
Staff at the Mineral Policy Center (MPC) in Washington, D.C., are working hard to draw attention to an outdated mining law that they say "contains no environmental protection provisions, . . . practically requires the approval of mine proposals, . . . [and] has left the headwaters of 40 percent of western waterways polluted by mining." The General Mining Law of 1872, a legislative vestige of the post-Civil War era and signed by Ulysses S. Grant, allows a "hardrock" (gold, silver, copper) mining company to purchase public land for only $5 per acre and does not tax or charge a royalty on extraction of minerals, regardless of who owns the land. Other extractive mining industries, like coal, are subject to taxation on all material mined from public property.

MPC estimates that taxpayers have given away over $245 billion in minerals and been left with $32 billion to $72 billion cleanup costs from 500,000 abandoned mines across the country. According to the MPC, the hardrock mining industry is the nation's largest toxic polluter.

A bill introduced on May 16 by Representatives Nick Rahall (D-West Virginia), Christopher Shays (R-Connecticut), and Jay Inslee (D-Washington) would overhaul the current legislation, providing environmental protections for water resources, instituting an 8 percent royalty to the government on minerals mined on publicly owned land, and protecting officially designated wilderness areas from the incursion of miners.

H.R. 4748, the Mineral Exploration and Development Act of 2002, hopes to legislate standards for the rehabilitation of abandoned mine sites. It includes an Abandoned Mines Fund which would be used to restore former mine sites to ensure public safety from surface and groundwater pollution.—Tara Dix

For more information:
Mineral Policy Center
Rock Creek Alliance
A bad law's birthday

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