WASHINGTON — Propelled by soaring prices for gold, copper, uranium and other metals, new mining claims on federal land are surging near heavily populated areas in the West, according to an analysis of federal records.
More than 16,000 such claims have been staked in the last five years, including nearly 1,700 in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, said a report released Tuesday by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group.
The new activity brings the total of active claims within five miles of Western population centers to nearly 51,600, the report said. The total number of mining claims has doubled in the last five years, from 207,540 in 2003 to 414,228 in January 2008.
Mining claims on Western federal land are governed by a law passed in 1872 and signed by President Grant. But since then, the frontier has given way to suburbs, resorts and retirement communities, and the law provides little recourse for local, state or tribal governments if they object to the encroachment of an industry that could bring open pits, acid drainage, and pollution of water and air close to their borders.
"The growing West is on a collision course with a global land rush for minerals," said Dusty Horwitt, senior public lands analyst for the environmental group.
Mining accounts for more Superfund toxic cleanup sites than any other industry and requires vast amounts of water for the processing of metal ore at a time when water shortages are plaguing the West.
The National Mining Assn. estimates that fewer than 5% of claims are actually developed into mining operations. Still, the prospect of mines in proximity to settled communities "is a concern," said Bill Wicker, the Democratic spokesman for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
The issue is expected to be "part of the larger debate" about reform of the mining law, Wicker said. The House passed a revised mining law in November that expands federal agencies' authority to reject claims, and the committee has been holding hearings for a Senate version likely to be introduced this spring.
Luke Popovich, a spokesman for the National Mining Assn., calls the cry for reform "disingenuous."
"There's nowhere in the world that mining has so many restrictions as in the U.S.," Popovich said. "Do the green activists want to degrade the environment elsewhere so they can preserve ski lodges here?"
He added that many American communities may welcome new mining and the jobs that the industry would bring.
