With record snows and
a robust economy, this has been a season of good fortune for the
resort town of Crested Butte in western Colorado. Yet our future
hangs in the balance as Congress wrestles with an issue that ought
to concern Americans everywhere: reform of the 1872 Mining Law.
How Congress proceeds could determine the fate of our
community and whether many of the things that make Crested Butte
such an attractive place to live and play — our healthy mountain
environment and recreation-based economy — will be spoiled by the
large-scale, molybdenum mine proposed right in our municipal
watershed.
Just like many other towns in the West, we
treasure our rich mining heritage. But honoring the past
doesn’t mean we must live with its destructive relics, and
the mining rules set 136 years ago during the administration of
President Ulysses S. Grant are indeed relics.
The mining
law made mineral exploration and development the “highest and
best use” of our federal lands in 1872. Virtually unchanged
since that time, it still regulates hardrock mineral development
and mining on our vast system of federal lands. This law may have
made sense in the frontier days when Congress was eager to settle
the West, but it no longer makes sense when Western communities
survive in large part because of recreation, tourism and access to
public lands.
We know that the federal land managers who
oversee our forests and rangelands treasure the open space, clean
water, recreation opportunities and wildlife habitat that public
lands nourish. But the 1872 Mining Law makes it all but impossible
for them to deny mining proposals that could destroy those values.
Worst of all, local residents have virtually no clout with the
Forest Service about whether a project goes forward. Under current
law, local and state officials are even more powerless.
Yet here in Crested Butte, we are faced with a proposed mine just
two miles from town. As we understand it today, the “Lucky
Jack Project” would deposit hundreds of thousands of tons of
tailings and other wastes close to town, and harm the valuable
recreation lands and wildlife habitats that are our economic
lifeblood.
Legislation passed by the U.S. House of
Representatives this past October, H.R. 2262, would go a long way
toward correcting these injustices. For the first time in more than
a century, it would give federal land managers the power to reject
a mine where other values like recreation, sensitive wildlife areas
and critical waters are found to be paramount. It would also free
special federal lands, including roadless forests and wilderness
study areas, from the 1872 Mining Law.
Of particular
importance to local and state officials, it would allow us to
petition the secretary of Interior to withdraw from mining special
places like our municipal watershed. This is a good start, though I
believe that municipal watersheds should, as a class and without
exception, be declared unsuitable for mining.
The House
legislation also contains provisions that recognize state and local
regulation of hardrock mineral development, ensuring compliance
through reclamation and environmental protection standards
established under local, state and federal laws. In addition, the
House bill would, for the first time, require mining companies to
pay royalties for operating on federal lands.
Recently,
the U.S. Senate began its review of the 1872 Mining Law. In the
coming weeks, senators on the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources will be debating behind closed doors whether and how to
overhaul the 1872 Mining Law. For Crested Butte and other
recreation-based communities throughout the West, I believe it is
essential to retain the environmental protections in the House
bill. The mining industry will argue its needs come first: I say
the West has moved on to a different reality.
I want to
make it clear that I don’t oppose mining; it’s critical
to our nation’s security. But it is time for our elected
officials to do the right thing for communities that must live with
mining on their doorstep. Current laws have failed to protect
public lands from the effects of mining, as anyone can attest who
has ever hiked in the mountains. Some streams run orange with acid
mine drainage, and waste from abandoned mines still litters the
landscape. It’s time to stop adding to that sad legacy.
Alan Bernholtz is a contributor to Writers on
the Range, a service of High Country News (hcn.org). He is the
mayor of Crested Butte, Colorado.
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