WASHINGTON D.C, Feb. 22, 2022 — The U.S. Department of the Interior announced today that it will establish an interagency advisory group focused on reforming the nation's 150-year-old law governing taxpayer-subsidized hardrock mining on federally managed public lands.
The outdated General Mining Act -- which President Ulysses S. Grant signed into law in 1872 -- exempts foreign and domestic mining companies from having to pay the American people for the valuable minerals the miners extract and sell in the global marketplace.
The advisory group also is focused on regulations and permitting, but only of new mines.
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| Mine tailings, Old Round Mountain cemetery, Nevada. (Photo © Tony Huegel) |
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