This item cross-posted by permission from Legal Planet.
Hardrock mining (as opposed to oil and gas drilling) on federal land is a topic that rarely hits the national news. And there are plenty of other high-profile items on the agenda in DC at the moment, like health care reform and climate legislation. So I was a bit surprised, but pleased, to see this editorial calling for reform of the General Mining Law in the NY Times.
The Times is right that this is an area ripe for legislative work. Hardrock mining on public lands is still governed by the Civil War-era General Mining Law, adopted when the federal government was barely in control of much of the west, and well before environmental protection was on anyone’s mind. It allows anyone to explore for minerals anywhere on the public lands that has not been explicitly withdrawn with no notice to, much less permission from, the land managers. Miners who find a valuable mineral deposit can exploit it without paying any royalties. The extent to which the environmental impacts of public land mining can be regulated, either by federal or state authorities, is hotly contested.
It has been obvious for decades that the mining law is badly outdated, but legislative reform has been exquisitely elusive. There are some reasons for hope now. As the Times points out, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has made it a priority. Nick Rahall, chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, long a supporter of mining law reform, has a bill on the topic pending in his committee. The roadblock, or potential roadblock, is in the Senate, where majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada, has opposed serious reform in the past.
The need for reform has recently become more urgent, as mineral prices have gone up and a wave of new claims has been filed across the west. The 2008 election took some of the pressure off — reform is less important with an administration in power that cares about the environmental impacts of mining, and is prepared to use its own powers to limit those impacts. On Monday, for example, Salazar announced a 2-year moratorium on new claims within the Grand Canyon watershed. But only Congress can make permanent reforms, and only Congress can change the fundamentals of the law. For moment, Rahall is prioritizing a smaller-scale bill that would permanently prohibit mining near the Grand Canyon. (A subcommittee is holding a hearing on it today.) Let’s hope there will be time later in this Congress for broad-scale mining law reform.
For an excellent historic overview and discussion of the mining law, see John Leshy, The Mining Law: A Study in Perpetual Motion (1987). The non-profit Earthworks advocates mining law reform here.
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Holly Doremus | July 22, 2009
This item cross-posted by permission from Legal Planet. Hardrock mining (as opposed to oil and gas drilling) on federal land is a topic that rarely hits the national news. And there are plenty of other high-profile items on the agenda in DC at the moment, like health care reform and climate legislation. So I was […]
Robert Verchick | July 21, 2009
A new report from the National Research Council on Friday slams a long-delayed Army Corps of Engineers hurricane protection study, saying it fails to recommend a unified, comprehensive long-term plan for protecting New Orleans and the Louisiana coast. You know the story: as Hurricane Katrina swept across New Orleans, the city’s levee system broke apart […]
Yee Huang | July 20, 2009
This is the third of four posts on the application of the public trust doctrine to water resources, based on a forthcoming CPR publication, Restoring the Trust: Water Resources and the Public Trust Doctrine, A Manual for Advocates, which will be released this summer. If you are interested in attending a free web-based seminar on […]
Yee Huang | July 17, 2009
This is the second of four posts on the application of the public trust doctrine to water resources, based on a forthcoming CPR publication, Restoring the Trust: Water Resources and the Public Trust Doctrine, A Manual for Advocates, which will be released this summer. If you are interested in attending a free web-based seminar on […]
Yee Huang | July 16, 2009
This is the first of four posts on the application of the public trust doctrine to water resources, based on a forthcoming CPR publication, Restoring the Trust: Water Resources and the Public Trust Doctrine, A Manual for Advocates, which will be released this summer. If you are interested in attending a free web-based seminar on […]
Joel A. Mintz | July 15, 2009
In a memo sent to EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance on July 2nd, Lisa Jackson, the Agency’s Administrator, observed that “the level of significant non-compliance with Clean Water Act permitting requirements is unacceptably high and the level of enforcement activity is unacceptably low.” She directed Agency officials to develop a new plan for […]
Rena Steinzor | July 14, 2009
Bowing to right-wing political pressure, Cass Sunstein, nominee for “regulatory czar” in the Obama Administration, broke months of official silence to plead his case with the cattle ranchers and agribusiness lobby who have engineered a hold on the nomination by Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA). Sunstein’s move was all the more troubling because his absence from […]
Daniel Farber | July 14, 2009
This item cross-posted by permission from Legal Planet. Greenwire reports that one issue in the confirmation hearing may be a case involving climate change. The plaintiffs sued under the federal common law of nuisance for injunctive relief against public utilities for their carbon emissions. The case has now been pending before a panel including Judge […]
Yee Huang | July 13, 2009
Perhaps – as a byproduct of a recent, revealing report by the Government Accountability Office and the economic downturn – the bubble of market growth for the bottled water industry may finally deflate, if not outright burst. Pop! The report, released last Wednesday, further debunks the myth that the quality of bottled water is better […]