Update mining law to protect communities
The Questa mine, a few miles east of the town that shares its name, has been on the list of the country’s most polluted Superfund sites for nearly two decades. For while mining operations have ceased, heavy metals and other pollutants continue to leach through the rock and contaminate the area’s water, including the nearby Red River.
Acid rock drainage from mine waste dumps and old underground workings killed eight miles of the river in the early 1990s. A pipeline built to divert the pollution has ruptured more than 100 times, killing plants and animals, damaging agricultural production and possibly contaminating drinking water wells. The mine still is cleaning up toxic tailings deposits, the result of pipeline breaks, that are scattered throughout the Red River valley.
The Red River, too, has a namesake town, and it is these two northern communities that have borne the brunt of the impact. And it was only through the local citizenry’s active, long-term engagement with authorities that Questa was added to the Superfund list, entitling it to a comprehensive cleanup plan and the federal funding to help pay for it.
The people of Questa and Red River have a lot of company, unfortunately. Communities across New Mexico and the country are living with pollution from abandoned hard rock mines, and taxpayers — not the polluters — are often paying for cleanup. Yet it could get worse.
The Trump administration and some members of Congress have moved to gut the very bedrock environmental laws that allow for public oversight and participation in mine permitting decisions.
A report from the nonpartisan U.S. Government Accountability Office undercuts the mining industry’s claim that permitting takes too long. The GAO concluded that mine permitting takes an average of two years — similar to other major developed countries — and that delays in mine permitting are primarily due to the failure of mining companies to provide comprehensive and timely information. Accelerating the process would strip away the already inadequate protections communities have to defend their families and environment against the impacts of hard rock mining.
U.S. mining policy is certainly in need of an upgrade, but not this kind. The General Mining Act that governs today’s mining industry was signed into law almost 150 years ago and belongs in a history book. It was written to govern pick and shovel mining during the Manifest Destiny era, and is completely out of scale with modern mining operations. When you factor in the impacts on water quality, the footprint of the Questa mine can be measured in the hundreds of square miles.
The time has come to hold mining companies accountable for their pollution. For decades, the mining lobby has blocked much-needed reform of the 1872 Mining Law and any other attempt to strengthen public oversight of the industry. American taxpayers shoulder an enormous financial, health and quality of life burden from hard rock mining, our largest toxic polluter according to the Toxic Release Inventory.
Under the 1872 law, mining is prioritized over any other land use. We need a modern law that prioritizes American citizens over foreign corporations, similar to the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act introduced by our own Sens. Tom Udall, D-N.M., and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., which would balance mining with other important land uses, such as water supplies, conservation, recreation and renewable energy development.
I’m proud of the work of New Mexico’s senators, and hope to see their bill move forward. This long overdue reform of federal mining law will protect families and preserve locals’ voices in the way their land and water — and the minerals below — are used.
Liliana Castillo is a board member of Amigos Bravos.
