Guest Comment: Bringing Arizona mining into the 21st century

I grew up exploring the Superstition Mountains, where legend says a Dutchman worked a fabulous gold mine whose whereabouts are long lost. Different riches lured me there—the land’s rugged beauty straight out of classic Westerns, clear-running falls at Fish Creek and unique Southwestern wildlife, from cactus wren to bobcat.

Mining has shaped Arizona’s economy and politics, but much has changed in the “Copper State” since the 1858 gold rush.

Over six million people live in this state, the nation’s fastest growing. Clean water grows scarce and precious.

This is worrisome for people— and wildlife. Over 75 percent of Arizona’s wildlife, including mule deer and trout, depends on streamsides and waterways.

Economists note hunting, angling, wildlife viewing and outdoor activities now pump $5 billion annually into Arizona’s economy, roughly equivalent to mining.

But one thing hasn’t changed—the 1872 Mining Law, which governs mining on our public lands. While the law helped develop the West, it left a legacy of abandoned mines and poisoned streams, and no funding or requirements to clean them up. It is time for Congress to update this law.

Roughly 100,000 abandoned mines litter our state, posing grave safety hazards and polluting water. An girl died last month after falling into an abandoned mine shaft while driving an all-terrain vehicle near her home.

Many Western waters, including the Verde River and tributaries of the Salt and Gila Rivers here in Arizona, are contaminated from past mining. Fish and aquatic wildlife in Pinto and Mineral Creeks were severely impacted in the 1990s when heavy rains washed out leach pads and tailing ponds at nearby copper mines.

The outdated law allows a virtual giveaway of public lands. Anyone can stake a mining claim on public lands, and then buy the land for $5 an acre. Driven by high metal prices, the number of claims filed in Arizona has increased 80 percent since 2003—thousands of them within five miles of the Grand Canyon and in the Arizona Strip, which includes some of our best mule deer habitat.

Because the law dictates that mining trumps other public land uses, local land managers cannot deny a mine even when it conflicts directly with providing clean water, vital habitat or places to hunt, fish, camp and hike. This shuts the public out of decisions about their land.

Pima County does not want a massive open-pit mine in the Santa Rita Mountains, which would suck up and pollute its water. But there’s little they can do to stop it.

The Arizona Game and Fish Commission, of which I am a member, has endorsed a bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, H.R. 2262, which would move federal mining policy up with the times.

Everyone agrees reform is needed. To strike a true balance, we need a new law that protects clean water, ends the public lands giveaway, deals with hazardous abandoned mines, gives land managers more say over mining and protects key wildlife habitat, sacred sites, wild rivers and backcountry.

Jennifer Martin is a member of the Arizona Game and Fish Commission. She testified before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Development in support of H.R. 2262 earlier this year. The bill is currently going to the floor of the House for a vote. She can be contacted through the commission Web site: www.azgfd.gov/inside_azgfd/commission_members