A Toxic Turn: How the Mining Regulatory Clarity Act of 2024 Endangers Public Lands
An aerial images shows toxic mining tailing runoff. The 1872 Mining Law still governs mining companies today. Stock image.
On May 8, 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2925, the Mining Regulatory Act Clarity of 2024, after the bill had been rejected by the House the previous week. Representative Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) introduced the controversial bill with hopes to give mining companies more leeway to pollute our public lands.
The act amends the 1993 Omnibus Reconciliation Act, by aiming to address the recent Rosemont decision to make it easier for mining companies to stake claims on public lands. The bill would be regressing to the outdated mining practice of allowing mining-support activities to occur on public lands without proof of valid mining claims on those lands. The implications of H.R. 2925 allow mining companies to occupy and store toxic waste on federal public lands in perpetuity. For a negligible fee, any claimant can block other beneficial uses of public lands for the use of ancillary mining operations, including constructing massive waste dumps and building roads and pipelines. This will be detrimental to our public lands and water resources that many rely on for their local economy, natural resources, recreation, cultural heritage, and overall way of life.
As many of you know, and for those who don’t, modern-day mining operations are the top toxic polluter and often produce more waste than minerals during their operations. While the exceedingly outdated 1872 mining law (yes, we regulate U.S. mining operations based on a law and priorities that are over 150 years old) allows for mining companies to mine on federal land, economically valuable minerals must be present. However, there had been a dispute as to whether or not operations that support the mining project could occur on adjacent lands where the existence of valuable minerals had not been proven.
The Mining Regulatory Clarity Act was created to reverse the recent decision made by the Ninth Circuit Court on the Rosemont Copper Mine (also known as the Rosemont Decision). The Rosemont Decision clarified that mining companies cannot dispose of waste rock or run new power lines on lands that were not proven to contain valuable minerals for valid mining claims.
Initially, the legislation was blocked the week before when six Republicans joined Democrats in voting against Amodei’s bill. House Democrats contended that Amodei’s bill primarily serves the interests of the mining industry, allowing for the development of sites even in the absence of documented valid mineral claims. During the floor debate, Democrats shared their concerns about the bill granting excessive power to mining companies while imposing insufficient accountability, despite these companies already operating within a favorable regulatory framework.
This is also not the first time this bill has been introduced to Congress. Amodei hit copy and paste on Senator Masto (D-NV) and Senator Risch’s (R-ID) bill, the Mining Regulatory Clarity Act of 2023. Just like the 2024 edition, the act aimed to address the recent Rosemont decision to make it easier for mining companies to stake claims on public lands and degrade areas where minerals may not even be present.
The passing of the Mining Regulatory Clarity Act moves mining policy in the wrong direction by making it easier for operators to occupy and degrade public lands. While we may need some minerals to shift our energy sources away from fossil fuels, our policymakers are failing to grasp how detrimental hard rock mining is to our environment and natural resources by ignoring the need for effective environmental safeguards and requiring responsible mining practices.
We need mining companies to be held accountable for the damage they cause and create policies that are proactive in protecting the areas we rely on. The mining industry doesn’t need more handouts. IRU is working diligently to advocate for our waters and the lands that surround them. We are calling on the Biden Administration to fulfill their promise of revising the 1872 Mining Law to better align with modern-day priorities by adding in the necessary protections to safeguard our environment.
