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Home Front: Politix
Most Dangerous Legislation - Trying To Gut The 1872 Mining Law
2007-11-03
A measure that would amend the General Mining Law of 1872 to establish environmental protections and eliminate land patenting passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday.

Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo, voted with the 244-166 majority and hailed the legislation for its environmental protections and reclamation requirements on hard-rock mining.

"I have heard from constituents in Crested Butte, the Summitville area, and throughout Colorado who want to protect our precious water resources," said Salazar, whose 3rd Congressional District includes most of the Western Slope. "After 135 years, I am glad the House has finally decided to act."

President Bush, however, has said he will veto the measure if it reaches his desk.

Sporting associations including Sportsmen United for Sensible Mining, the National Wildlife Federation, Trout Unlimited and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, welcomed the vote...
Posted by:Anonymoose

#10  Oh for goodness sake. Plant a bunch of cottonwood trees and native iris just downstream. They absorb pollutants, then can be harvested and removed... and they're native.
Posted by: trailing wife   2007-11-03 21:22  

#9  Cheasing W...

Ya Know? That's very perceptive, and; an excellent catch. I noticed the media "mine safety" over-play also, but didn't quite connect the dots as well as you did. The God-less bastard anarchists just keep chipping away... FUC* Them, lpg
Posted by: Leonard Plynth Garnell   2007-11-03 21:21  

#8  In the early 1990s I was prospecting around Leadville, Colorado with a team of investors. We locating old tailing dumps with well over the gram per ton payback content. Some sites indicated up to a quarter ounce per ton.

We offered to relocate all saplings uphill of the stream course to help rehabilitate the excavations afterwards. Not only that, but our extraction work would have IMPROVED THE ENVIRONMENT due to how we would remove mercury-contaminated waste ore for subsequent urea leaching. Our group would have created dozens of jobs and funneled over a million dollars into the local economy.

We were turned down by the BLM due to concerns over a local trout run, despite there being a fish farm a few kilometers away from our intended work site.
Posted by: Zenster   2007-11-03 21:05  

#7  Environmentalists who want to protect our precious water resources bodily fluids

There fixed it for you.

Posted by: OldSpook   2007-11-03 20:43  

#6  Trout Unlimited ceased to be about trout a long time ago.

I stopped being a member a while back. It has become a hen party where a bunch of people who participate in a fussy little hobby conspire to cause huge economic damage to rural areas just so they can pursue their fussy little hobby.

*Disclaimer: I participate in that fussy little hobby, too (fly fishing), but I'm not so addicted that I would deny some community an economic boon.
Posted by: no mo uro   2007-11-03 19:27  

#5  I should've said " my only personal knowledge"... as a kid we used to fly fish the Carson River below...the cleanup efforts/costs are immense
Posted by: Frank G   2007-11-03 19:16  

#4  moose,

That is very strongly stated. I don't necessarily disagree, but I would like to understand better why you are so adamant. Do you have links or books you could refer us to?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble   2007-11-03 19:08  

#3  hah. I knew there must be some very important mining legislation coming down the pike. I knew because every time there was a mine accident in the last year, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, CBC, ABC, CBS, etc carried the event live 24/7, with "breaking news alerts" every 5 minutes until the event was way past the natural news cycle. While it is indeed news if someone gets stuck in a mine, its not as big of news as they were so desperately tring to make it - so I knew that the media was just primping the public for upcoming legislation that would make it harder for mines to operate.
Posted by: Cheasing Wittlesbach4201   2007-11-03 18:48  

#2  My only knowledge of damage is the Leviathan Mine south of Carson City. Surely legitimate enviro issue scan be addressed without killing mining?
Posted by: Frank G   2007-11-03 18:44  

#1  The 1872 mining law is perhaps the single most important legislation in US history in making the US the most powerful nation in the world.

The one and only 100% correlation in economics in world history is that the more a nation or group of aligned nations mines, the more prosperous it is. If it mines less, it is in decline. If it stops mining, it is on the road to ruin.

Mines are by far the critical factor to keeping America powerful in the future. Everything else is up for debate, but if America and American companies stop mining, we are in deep trouble.

If people are unhappy about a mine in their area, it is better for our nation that they be removed from the area, rather than being permitted to inhibit the mining in any way. Nothing they can do is more important than mining.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2007-11-03 18:25  

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