COMMENTARY — Rhetoric over reason

Recent criticism of the mining industry expressed by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt shows that “he continues to rely on rhetoric over reason, and places politics over policy in his quest to drive the natural resources industries away from the U.S.,” says Richard Lawson, president of the National Mining Association.

“Somehow, Secretary Babbitt has decided that the natural resources industries are working against the best interests of the American public. In his frenzy to tear down the industries that have built America, Bruce Babbitt chooses to ignore the facts, especially when he campaigns against the domestic mining industry,” Lawson says.

On several occassions in recent months, Babbitt has openly criticised the natural resources industries, attacking, in particular, bipartisan efforts in Congress to reform the U.S. Mining Law.

He called the Senate’s proposed mining law reform “a sham,” and alleged the U.S. is “giving away” its hardrock natural resources to foreign nations. He called the suggestion of payment of fair market value for the surface estate of claims “grazing rights” rather than compensation for the true value of the land. He described lobbyists for the industry as “money-changers” who were “swarming through the temple of democracy in the nation’s capital.” When Babbitt speaks of “giveaways” and “corporate welfare,” Lawson says, “he ignores the hundreds of millions of tax dollars paid to local, state and federal governments by mining companies; he ignores the salaries paid to tens of thousands of miners, many working in rural communities where jobs are scarce; he ignores the hundreds of millions of dollars invested to explore, permit and develop a mine and the hundreds of millions of dollars spent by mining companies to restore, protect and improve the environment of the communities in which they operate.”

Lawson adds: “Secretary Babbitt also ignores the fact that Congress has taken responsible steps toward reforming the law that governs hardrock mining on public lands. He ignores provisions that would impose a royalty on minerals mined on public lands; and he ignores the fact that the law would require mining companies to pay fair market value for public land used in mining.” — From a recent issue of “Mining Week,” published by the U.S.-based National Mining Association.