Mining, the Environment and Your Pocketbook

Our global economy thrives on natural resources obtained from mines throughout the United States and mining technology has moved from the pick and shovel to land moving and digging equipment but our mining laws still basically revolve around the General Mining Act of 1872. The result has been a tremendous loss of money for U.S. taxpayers. In the United States, "private mining companies haven't paid royalties to taxpayers for an estimated $245 billion dollars worth of minerals extracted from public lands in 135 years" (Miller, 2007). In fact, even the National Mining Association supports reform of the outdated Act. "A representative of the U.S. mineral mining industry told a congressional panel today that essential reforms of the 1872 Mining Law must ensure a fair return to taxpayers and to mining investors" (NMA, 2007).

Images

Conjure up an image of a mine and most people think of huge trenches in the Earth that are dug out for resources like coal. In reality, "approximately two-thirds of today's coal production results from surface rather than underground mining" (NMA, 2007). Most people do not realize it but minerals are in every product that we use in our daily routine. For example, "A television requires 35 different minerals, and more than 30 minerals are needed to make a computer" (NMA, 2007). Each of these minerals must be mined in some manner from publicly controlled lands before it is turned over to a company for mining.

Royalties