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It's hard to believe that after 135 years, hard-rock mining companies continue to claim federal land for $5 or less per acre as they did in the 1870s, avoid paying any royalties, pollute the nation's waterways with mining waste, and have no real obligation to clean up their messes. Under the law, more than 270 million acres of federal land are vulnerable to destructive mining practices. Because the General Mining Law of 1872 has never been meaningfully reformed, many of America's most treasured public lands are at risk.

Sportsmen United for Sensible Mining represents millions of hunters and anglers, fish and wildlife professionals and citizens who enjoy our public lands. The Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service manage these irreplaceable resources, which provide some of our country's most important fish and wildlife habitat and offer some of our finest hunting and angling opportunities. Public lands contain more than 50 percent of the nation's blue-ribbon trout streams and more than 80 percent of critical elk habitat. America's sportsmen support mining but believe in reasonable reform that limits lasting detriments to fish and wildlife.

Right now, Congress is weighing revision of the 1872 Mining Law. Sportsmen must get involved now to conserve the future of hunting and angling.

On Nov. 1, the House of Representatives voted its approval of the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2007 (HR 2262). Under the bill, which passed the House with bipartisan support and a final vote of 244-166, sales of public lands to mining corporations would end. Royalties of up to 4 percent would be assessed to existing mines and 8 percent to new mines, with proceeds funding cleanup of abandoned mines. New permitting and environmental guidelines also would be enacted.

On Jan. 24, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee met to begin weighing changes to our country's most archaic legislation. Representatives of Sportsmen United for Sensible Mining testified at the Senate hearing to urge practical revisions, including conservation of fish and wildlife habitat and support of public-lands sporting traditions. The sportsmen's alliance sent a letter, signed by 22 key sporting groups, to Committee Chair Jeff Bingaman and ranking Senator Pete V. Domenici urging reform of the 1872 law.

Let your senators know that sportsmen offer a reasonable voice in the debate over mining law reform and represent the interests of America's fish, wildlife and public lands. Contact your senators and ask them to support the campaign's tenets of sensible mining reform.

© 2007 Sportsmen for Sensible Mining
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