Reform of the 1872 Mining Law has been on the agenda of every major conservation organization for years, and it looks like the issue is finally coming to a head. For those of you unaware of the 1872 Mining Law, here is a summary from TU’s Web site.
The General Mining Law of 1872 was passed at a time when conquering the western wilderness was our primary goal. To do this, our visionary lawmakers at the time, decided they should give away minerals on our public lands and the land itself to miners to foster development of the new frontier, allow miners to pillage many thousands of acres, take the gold, silver and other minerals, and pay nothing for them–and with no requirement to clean up the mess, reclaim the landscape, close the roads, or keep acid mine waste from killing watersheds.
A group of conservation organizations, including NWF, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and Trout Unlimited have formed a partnership, Sportsmen United for Sensible Mining, to help guide outdoor sports enthusiasts in the effort to reform the law.
There are complementary House HR 699 and Senate S 796 bills introduced to Congress. And Obama’s Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has testified in favor of 1872 mining law reform.
Oregon’s congressional delegation has been active in this legislation, as the Senate bill is co-sponsored by Ron Wyden and the House bill is co-sponsored by Earl Blumenauer and David Wu. The big hurdle has historically been mining industry shill, Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid, but we doubt Reid will be able to hold this back much longer.
The Teddy Roosevelt Conservation Partnership folks have an action campaign to email your Senators in favor of S796.
From TRCP: Senate Bill 796 takes a judicious approach to updating the 1872 Mining Law – an approach that sportsmen can confidently support. The legislation would eliminate the sale of public lands to mining companies. It would allow federal agencies to do their jobs by directing the BLM and Forest Service to review “high value” lands for possible withdrawal from minerals development. It would establish royalties of between 2 and 5 percent on new mines located on public lands. Just like other industries that operate on public lands, the mining industry would be required to pay a reasonable fee for the multi-billion-dollar resources that are owned by American citizens. Finally, S. 796 would institute a reclamation fee to help restore the thousands of abandoned mines that are scattered across our landscapes.
-MS
I think that it would be a mistake to give our property rights up like that to the government! Mining and dredge mining has NO…i repeat No effect on the trout spawning after many many studies . So tell me why you wouldn’t want to go out and claim the gold that is rightfully ours? Is it that you are too lazy? Get a grip because it’s the begining of a takeover of our property as we know it. Try fighting for a real cause like getting our troops back home. As far as the miners not cleaning up their messes goes…i’m sure there are a few but from what i seen when i was in the Siskyou National Forest was that it was all nice and kept up. It’s the off roaders you want to get for killing trees by off roading where there are no roads. Thank you for your time
youre full of crap. sound like a Anaconda spokesman. besides its not your land it’s our land. and rather not have people making cyanide heaps and slag pools on MY land. thank very much