Overview
The use of land for the exploitation of minerals, primarily by mining operations and oil and gas drilling and development, and the laws that govern these activities are contentious issues between environmentalists and business interests in the USA and in other countries.
The General Mining Act of 1872, with some minor modifications in 1981 and 2001, has defined the basis for most mining activity in the United States in the past century. The Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2007 (HR-2262), currently under consideration by Congress, would impact mining operations by imposing royalties of 4 percent on existing mining operations and 8 percent on new operations; currently the royalties are zero.
The Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1972 and the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA) placed restrictions on mining, and the coal industry, in particular. However, in 2002 a change to the provisions of the CWA loosened restrictions on the dumping of mining waste.
Oil and gas activities are governed by individual states through statues. Energy companies or individuals that own the mineral rights to a lease have the right to drill for hydrocarbons, and develop and transport the hydrocarbons off the lease, even if they do not own the surface rights. Royalties are paid to the state governments for hydrocarbons extracted. Drilling in places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, offshore Florida and California, and close to national parks and wilderness areas in the USA and other countries has been blocked due to environmental concerns.
Wikipedia, General Mining Act of 1872
Washington Watch: Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act
EPA: Clean Water Act
Supporting Views
Those in the environmental community that are against oil and gas, and coal mining activities cite the impact of fossil fuels on greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally they cite damage to the environment from all mining operations and support the need for tighter environmental laws regarding mining waste and the restoration of the land after mining is completed. They favor higher taxes on fossil fuels and tax incentives on renewable energy sources as a means of shifting economies away from fossil fuels.
The coal industry, in particular, has been the focus of environmentalists because of the emissions of CO2, sulfur and ash into the atmosphere from coal burning power plants, but also because of toxic acids draining from mines into the environment.
In 2002, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency under pressure from the coal mining industry redefined fill material to include mining waste, thus effectively altering the protective provisions of the long standing Clean Water Act; the effect was to accelerate mountain top removal in the Appalachian area and the deposit of the mining waste onto stream beds of the valleys. More than 1200 miles of streams are now buried by fill that contaminates drinking water supplies. The Clean Water Protection Act under consideration in Congress would reverse that practice.
The cancellation of the FutureGen prototype project that was to have developed new technologies to capture and store CO2 from coal burning plants has had a mixed response. Some see it as a victory for renewable energy as it shifts research funds away from coal and discourages further investment in coal burning power plants. However, others worry that in countries with abundant cheap coal reserves, coal will remain an economic and significant part of satisfying energy demands for many years, and runs counter productive to the environmental initiatives to reduce green house gas emissions. Indeed with the price of coal on the world markets, coal exports from the United States are rising, and much of that coal will be burned in traditional coal burning power plants.
Supporting Websites
Environmental Working Group
Environmental Defense
National Resource Defense Council
Union of Concerned Scientists
Sierra Club
The Wilderness Society
Appalachian Voices
Opposing Views
The coal mining industry according to CARE directly employs 90,000 people and directly or indirectly contributes $161 billion annually to the US economy. The value of the coal produced each year in the US is $18 billion. The economics of utilizing coal to generate electricity is superior to that of all renewable energy sources.
The coal mining industry, the railways that carry the coal, and the electricity power plant companies are all supportive of the carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology that would be developed with the FutureGen project. The technology would have worldwide applications wherever coal is being burned for electricity generation.
The oil and gas industry points towards more energy independence in campaigning for opening up the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge and other environmentally sensitive areas to oil and gas exploration. Alaskan residents, trade unions and business interests are supportive of opening up ANWR for exploration citing improvements in technologies such as directional drilling from a single pad that would minimize the environmental footprint of operations.
Regarding metal mining, Mike Mullaney, president of the Montana Mining Association, argues in a Montana Standard article that “an alarming piece of HR-2262 has to do with imposing an 8-percent royalty on new mines. The environmental community will argue that coal and oil are already paying 8 percent royalties and so, too, should the metal mines industry. The comparison is apples to oranges. Oil is marketable right at the well head. Coal is marketable where it is mined. Metal mining, on the other hand, has to go through a series of costly steps in order to come up with a product that’s ready to market”.
Opposing Websites
ANWR.org
National Mining Association, Clean Coal Technology
Coal Utilization Research Council
Coalition for Affordable and Reliable Energy (CARE)
Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC)
Montana Mining Association |