Politicians stumping on their resolve to "keep us safe" usually train their rhetoric on a predictable lot. For the right, the danger is manifest in cave-dwelling fanatics in the Middle East. For the left, carbon footprints and melting ice caps pose the existential threat. And both political parties collectively wag a finger at Chinese exports laced with lead and antifreeze.
While these foreign targets make for easy demagogy, this summer saw collapsing mines and bridges prove lethal domestic threats. Unlike other policy conundrums, the appropriate response to these problems seems relatively straightforward.
Investment in sturdy infrastructure requires taxes. (Before the bridge fell, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty twice vetoed transportation bills with a gas tax meant to fund infrastructure needs, citing the cost). And safe mines require more stringent regulation. (The owner of the Utah coal mine railed against mine safety improvements following previous tragedies, citing the cost.)
Until right-wing ideologues internalize their mantra that safety is not free and recognize that taxes and regulation are not menaces on par with al-Qaida, such crises will continue.
But there is another mining scandal, hidden from the headlines, that beckons for bipartisan redress. Reform legislation is beginning to wind its way through Congress, and there's no reason why every member from both party shouldn't sign on.
There was a time long ago when only pirates made off with billions in someone else's gold. But thanks to a 135-year-old mining law still on the books, some of the world's biggest corporations still plunder. Signed into law by President Ulysses Grant to encourage Western expansion, the 1872 Mining Law has long outlived its intent. With the Wild West settled and multinational mining companies flourishing, wasteful subsidies continue to flow. Federal land can still be sold dirt cheap, hard-rock miners are uniquely excused from royalty payments for the mineral they extract and taxpayers are often left with the clean-up bill after expensive environmental damage is abandoned on federal lands.
While the oil and gas industries pay as much as 12.5 percent in royalties for the privilege to extract resources from federal lands, miners on federal land are given a green light to take gold, silver and other precious metals that properly belong to the public without paying anything back. Not only are we giving away valuable commodities like copper and uranium to flourishing multinational corporations, but the very land the rocks and metals are found under is practically given away for free. For a measly $5 an acre, federal land can be scooped up and then turned into commercial interests ranging from condominiums to ski resorts and casinos.
In addition, taxpayers foot the bill for hefty clean-up costs associated with mining. The public is asked to underwrite the profits and forced to pay for the damages left behind-damages estimated to cost upwards of $50 billion. The 1872 Mining Law fails on too many national priorities, fiscal prudence and fair play among them.
The Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2007, H.R. 2262, introduced by Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.V., takes steps to address these critical issues. The bill imposes a modest 8 percent royalty on the value of the gold, silver and other stones and metals extracted. It prohibits the sale of federal land to hard rock mining companies. And it tackles the steep clean-up costs by establishing standards to minimize damage, requiring more stringent planning and disclosures from mining companies to reduce unforeseen catastrophes and investing royalty and fee revenues into a fund to help cover these expensive damages.
Terrorism, climate change and rogue toy makers can't all be defeated with one legislative vote. But here's one problem that can.
Jacob Shelly is a junior in the School of Public Affairs and a liberal columnist for The Eagle.
