HCCA and Partner Groups Litigate Federal Mining Regulations

On October 20, 2009, HCCA and a coalition of conservation and Native American organizations filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Washington, D.C. challenging two regulations issued by the Bush Administration that weakened environmental protections for mining operations. One of the regulations being challenged, first issued in 2003, concerns what is known as the "millsite provision" of the 1872 Mining Law. The other challenged regulation, issued in the waning days of the Bush Administration eliminated the mining industry's obligations to pay fair market value for the use of public lands.

Large-scale mining operations, proposed across the western public lands, are taking advantage of these relaxed restrictions on mining. The current regulations provide a subsidy for mining that leads to permanent impacts to public lands.  In Crested Butte these regulations are the primary factor that could allow the mining industry to dump waste at the source of our town's drinking water supply and utilize large swaths of public lands without having to prove the validity of mining claims.  Allowing mining companies to escape paying their fair share for using public lands cheats the taxpayers and fails to consider many of the environmental impacts associated with mining uses on public lands.

In addition to HCCA the groups participating in the lawsuit are Earthworks, Great Basin Resource Watch, Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, and the Western Shoshone Defense Project. The Defendants are the U.S. Department of Interior - the agency that issued the regulations, as well as the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which also oversees mining operations on public lands.