Congress Reconsidering 1872 Mining Law

Changes are being proposed to a 135-year-old mining law that recycling advocates have long contended works as a subsidy to mined materials, ostensibly keeping scrap prices in check.

According to environmental advocacy group Earthworks, the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee has approved “a major rewrite of the badly outdated 1872 Mining Law, setting the stage for a House floor vote” as soon as late October.

In a news release, the group says the House is expected to pass the bill, known as H.R. 2262.

HR 2262 would be the Mining Law’s “first substantial overhaul,” according to Earthworks. The 1872 Mining Law, originally intended to spur the nation’s westward expansion, labels mining the “highest and best use” of public lands, allows the sale of claimed lands for $5 per acre, imposes no federal royalties, and contains no environmental standards, the critics contend.

“The bill approved today would bring the 19th century mining law into the 21st century," says Stephen D’Esposito, president of the Washington, D.C.-based conservation group Earthworks.

Introduced by Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall (D-W. Va.) and Energy and Minerals Subcommittee Chairman Jim Costa (D-Calif.), H.R. 2262 – the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2007 – would:

• Give federal land managers explicit authority to balance other public land uses – such as for drinking water, recreation, hunting, fishing, and wildlife habitat – when deciding whether to permit a mine.
• Prohibit mines that would cause “perpetual” water pollution.
• Provide a return to the U.S. Treasury on minerals taken from public lands.
• Start to fund the $50 billion cleanup of abandoned mines.
• Give local governments the ability to petition to put lands off limits to mining.

In addition, an amendment from Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) amendment declares that existing mines, as well as new ones, pay a royalty to taxpayers for public minerals.

During depressed scrap markets, the 1872 Mining Law is often cited as one that allows mining companies to continue extracting materials at a low cost rather than allowing metals producers to bid more for existing scrap.

That aspect of the law may not receive as much attention during the debate at a time when prices for many scrap metals are soaring at or near all-time highs.

Environmentalists and state and local governments in the West seem to be largely favoring an overhaul of the 130-year-old law. A fish and gaming official in Arizona, in an op-ed piece in the Arizona Republic, writes, “The outdated law allows a virtual giveaway of public lands. Anyone can stake a mining claim on public lands and then buy the land for $5 an acre. Driven by high metal prices, the number of claims filed in Arizona has increased 80 percent since 2003 - thousands of them within five miles of the Grand Canyon. Because the law dictates that mining trumps other public land uses, local land managers cannot deny a mine even when it conflicts directly with providing clean water, vital habitat or places to hunt, fish, camp and hike. This shuts the public out of decisions about their land.”

An editorial in The Olympian newspaper in Washington notes, “Companies that extract coal, oil, natural gas and timber from public lands pay royalties on their gross revenues. So should the hard rock miners who are digging up billions of dollars worth of gold, uranium and other precious minerals. Federal land managers should also have the authority to block a mining operation known to cause environmental or cultural damage to nearby public resources.”

According to a report on NPR’s Marketplace Web site, “The metal industry says mining still plays a vital role in the Western economy. It plans to spend about $20 million defending the industry through advertising and lobbying.”