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01/27/2005: "Congress should ax public land giveaway"

Article Last Updated: 11/10/2005 03:48 AM

editorial at Denver Post

Proposed changes to the 1872 Mining Law show an egregious disregard for the public interest by greasing the sale of millions of acres of federal land.



Congress is considering a proposal to sell off chunks of national forests, parks and other public lands under the subterfuge of mining law "reform." Once sold, the properties would be off-limits to public recreation and wouldn't be managed for the public's good. Coloradans could unexpectedly see suburban sprawl on mountainsides they thought were protected open spaces - a trophy home at the foot of the Maroon Bells, for example. Unlike existing law, the proposal would let the Bush administration sell off federal lands without public hearings or environmental studies.

The massive giveaway is largely hidden from voters' view in a 187-page budget bill. Colorado's congressional delegation should be outraged by the assault on our public spaces, but Tom Tancredo of Littleton actually voted for it in committee. The House should remove the misleadingly titled Miscellaneous Amendments Related to Mining when it votes today on the budget reconciliation bill.

The amendments really aren't about mining; they're about real estate speculation. They're a step backwards even from the existing problem-filled 1872 Mining Law, which lets companies purchase or "patent" mining claims on federal land for a pitiful $2.50 to $5 per acre if they plan to produce hard-rock minerals like gold or silver. Abuses have been egregious, especially because hard-rock mines don't pay federal royalties. In 1995, a company bought $3 billion worth of federal minerals in Arizona for just $1,745. Congress has repeatedly failed to reform the 1872 law, but in the 1990s lawmakers did manage to impose a moratorium on mine patents.

Now, Republican U.S. Reps. Jim Gibbons of Nevada and Richard Pombo of California want to lift the moratorium and, worse, gut the few restrictions that exist in the 1872 law. The plan seems to raise the minimum price for patenting claims on federal land to $1,000 per acre, but at heart it would erase important environmental and taxpayer safeguards.

At least under existing law, companies wanting to patent mine claims have to do some real work, such as digging exploratory holes, to prove there are minerals on the land and that they intend to mine them. But the proposal eliminates key requirements and says the Interior secretary "shall not require a mineral examination report." Nor would there be any real assurances that the lands taken out of public ownership would be mined - they could be used for any purpose. It's an invitation to condo developers, mini-mansion homebuilders and other speculators to snatch up federal lands that otherwise would never leave public ownership. The proposal "will put in the hands of corporations the keys to privatize millions of acres of federal land," warns John Leshy, former solicitor general for the U.S. Interior Department.

Gibbons says his plan requires new patents to be claimed for mining or be adjacent to existing mining claims, but it's a meaningless requirement. Millions of mining patents were filed during the West's settlement, so today such claims are found almost everywhere in our region and cover an area the size of New Mexico. Just in Colorado, old mining patents encompass 123,000 acres. Most existing claims are next to or surrounded by national forests, parks or other public lands. Many also are near former mining towns that have become pricey resorts such as Aspen, Telluride, Breckenridge and Crested Butte. Twenty-three of Colorado's 24 ski areas are on national forests and so are vulnerable under the proposal.

Nearly all 24 million acres of federal land in Colorado would be eligible for sale, says the Environmental Working Group.

The plan could be a huge gift to energy companies. Oil and gas companies generally pay federal royalties of 12.5 percent for removing irreplaceable resources from federal lands; coal mines pay 8 percent to 12.5 percent. But if energy producers buy public lands where they work or plan to do so, they would no longer have to pay federal royalties. That giveaway would hurt taxpayers: Last year, the U.S. Minerals Management Service collected $8 billion in mineral revenues. Half went to the U.S. Treasury and half to the states, with Colorado's share being $89 million.

Even in a Congress known for corporate giveaways, the mining law amendments show egregious disregard for the public's interest. The House should erase them from the budget reconciliation bill.