NEWS
Congress to take up Bingaman’s Mining Act reform bill
Shortly after passage of the omnibus public lands bill, Bingaman introduced a measure strongly supported by sportsmen to overhaul the 1872 Mining Act, an antiquated law that allows irresponsible development of hard-rock mining throughout the country, particularly in the West - and still allows sale of our public lands for as little as $2.50 an acre.
The Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2009 would make “responsible changes,” Bingaman said in a statement, to the law that has governed mineral extraction on federal lands since Ulysses S. Grant was president. The bill would require mining companies to pay for publicly owned minerals and uses that funding to reclaim abandoned mines and restore wildlife habitat. The bill would also eliminate the sale of public lands to mining companies, and instead establishes a leasing system allowing lands to remain in public ownership.
Several New Mexico communities have passed resolutions in support of the reform measure. The most recent was the Village of Questa, which is home to the massive Molycorp molybdenum mine. Questa joins a growing list of cities, counties and state agencies in New Mexico calling for congressional overhaul of the Mining Act, including Albuquerque and Las Cruces and the State Game Commission.
In a statement, Bingaman’s office said the original law was passed to help settle the West. “Past efforts to bring this law up to date, to make sure that Americans receive a reasonable return for public resources and to modernize land management requirements, have failed,” his office said. “That doesn’t make any sense to Chairman Bingaman, given the economic challenges that our nation currently faces and given concerns about the public health, safety and environmental issues that mining - and in particular abandoned mine sites - can raise.”
Click here to read the text of the bill.