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THE GENERAL OF 1872 – Polluter of , provider of pork.

OVERVIEW do apply to mining, they do not adequately protect The 1872 Mining Law is one of the last remaining the environment from mining-specific pollution. For dinosaurs of the old West. Signed by President Ulysses example, two loopholes in the Clean Water Act allow S. Grant over 130 years ago, mining waste to be dumped directly into lakes, rivers this law still governs hardrock and streams. mining on federal public , even though other national poli- In 2000, EPA declared 40% of the cies and popular opinion have headwaters of all western watersheds changed. Passed to encourage polluted by mining. development of the West via min- EPA has identified the hardrock min- eral exploitation, this antiquated ing industry as the nation’s largest law allows private companies to toxic polluter – contributing almost take valuable , including half of all reported toxic releases in gold, copper, and uranium from the U.S. public lands without payment to Barrick Goldstrike: public lands acquired Over 500,000 abandoned mines litter the owners and with little con- for $5190 under the 1872 Mining Law. the country. Cleanup will cost an esti- sideration for communities and the Since then, Barrick has mined tens of bil- lions of dollars of gold from the property. mated $50 billion. environment. FISCAL INADEQUACY JURISDICTION The 1872 Mining Law allows mining companies to The law covers hardrock mining on 270 million of extract publicly owned minerals without payment to acres of publicly owned lands – mostly in the Rocky federal taxpayers. Multinational mining companies Mountain West and Alaska. This constitutes almost extract over a billion dollars of public minerals from one-fourth of all the in the United States, or two public lands each year. Coal, oil, and natural gas com- thirds of the lands the federal government holds in panies pay a 8 to 12.5% royalty for extracting resourc- trust for all Americans. es from federal public lands. The law governs all valuable minerals on these lands The Mining Law also offers bearing public land not covered by other . Practically, this usually for sale at $2.50 - $5 per acre – 1872 prices. Although means metals such as gold and copper, but also a temporary moratorium currently prevents new sales, includes valuable clays and other valuable materials. It $245 billion worth of mineral bearing public lands does not cover fuel minerals such as coal, oil or natural have been “sold” under the law – a land area equiva- gas, or common materials such as limestone. lent in size to the state of Connecticut. ENVIRONMENTAL INADEQUACY MISPLACED LAND-USE PRIORITY The 1872 Mining Law contains no environmental pro- The Mining Law establishes hardrock mining as the tection provisions. Although other environmental laws highest and best use of public lands, unless they are

EARTHWORKS‡1612 K St., NW, Suite 808 Washington, D.C., USA 20006 ZZZHDUWKZRUNVDFWLRQRUJ‡OSDJHO#HDUWKZRUNVDFWLRQRUJ‡[ THE GENERAL MINING LAW OF 1872 – Polluter of water, provider of pork. specifically withdrawn from mining (e.g. National Parks), industry with billions of dollar in subsidies. For $5 regardless of other competing land uses or environmen- an acre, mining interests have patented (purchased) tal sensitivity. an area roughly equivalent in size to the state of Specifically, the Mining Law gives anyone the right to Connecticut containing mineral values exceeding stake a mining claim on open public land if they discover $245 billion. A new, reformed mining law should a “valuable deposit” of minerals. end the process of patenting. Mining law reform should also include a fair financial return to the tax- All other types of mine proposals (e.g. coal) on public payer in the form of a royalty and reclamation fee lands must be weighed against other potential land uses on the mining industry. before permittal. In the modern era, federal land man- agement agencies have consistently argued that they Inspection, Enforcement, Bonding cannot deny hardrock mining proposals because of the Enforcement authority must be given to federal 1872 Mining Law. regulators to ensure operator compli- ance with the requirements of the reformed law. Enforcement actions CORNERSTONES OF must be mandatory and require MINNG REFORM frequent inspections, violation cita- Protecting Treasured Places tions, civil and criminal penalty assessments, and the denial of new Under the federal government’s mining permits to operators with current interpretation, land man- outstanding violations. Reclamation agers give preference to mining bonds must be required at levels over all other land uses – from that will ensure complete reclama- recreation to Dean Stiffarm holds contaminated water tion if operators fail to carry out their supplies to hunting. This leaves from the abandoned Zortman-Landusky gold mine in Montana. responsibilities. places like the Cabinet Mountain Taxpayers are on thoe hook for tens of Area in Montana, Santa millions of dollars (minimum) to reclaim Abandoned Mine Land Fund the mine because - unlike coal mining - Rita Mountains in Arizona and the hardrock mining companies pay no mine There are more than 500,000 aban- Grand Canyon in danger from min- reclamation fee. doned hardrock mines in the United eral development. Reform of the States that will cost an estimated $50 mining law must recognize that billion dollars to reclaim, according to there are some places that should not be mined and the Environmental Protection Agency. Currently must clearly give land managers the ability to deny a there is no funding source for abandoned hardrock mine proposal if there are other important val- mine reclamation, and the abandoned mines that ues that could be damaged by a mining operation. litter the Western United States threaten both public Real Environmental Standards safety and precious water . An abandoned mine land fund, paid for by the mining industry, is Under current law, there are no statutory environmental needed to clean up this toxic legacy. standards written specifically for mining. For example, the Clean Water Act does not protect from mining pollution, and there is no definition of how to reclaim a mine. The mining industry needs industry- specific environmental standards to protect surface and groundwater quality from erosion and toxic discharge; require restoration concurrent with mining; protect topsoil and habitats; require productive native revegetation; and minimize and neutralize mine OIL & GAS ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT wastes. EARTHWORKS Fiscal Reforms 1612 K St., NW, Suite 808 Washington, '&86$‡ The 1872 Mining Law currently provides the mining OSDJHO#HDUWKZRUNVDFWLRQRUJ ZZZHDUWKZRUNVDFWLRQRUJ‡ZZZRJDSRUJ