The Los Angeles Times reports on how gold mining companies are legally allowed to mine gold on public lands without paying, and leave taxpayers to clean up the mess.
The mining of gold and other hard-rock minerals on public lands is governed by the General Mining Law of 1872, which has remained virtually unchanged since it was signed by President Grant to encourage settlement of the West. The statute was designed to reward pioneers who survived the trek across the frontier with the opportunity to mine gold and other metals freely and in unlimited amounts.
The prospectors are long gone, but the incentives remain. Today, the highly profitable hard-rock mining industry — much of it foreign-owned — continues to receive generous U.S. tax breaks. And it pays virtually nothing for gold and other precious metals it takes from public lands with few restraints. In sharp contrast, oil, gas and coal companies have been reimbursing taxpayers for decades with billions of dollars in royalties that were paid for resources removed from federal property.
