Mining Impacts

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's latest Toxic Release Inventory, the metal mining industry is responsible for almost half of the toxic pollution in the United States (47%). This comes from just 88 metal mining facilities. See EPA's  2013 TRI National Analysis: Comparing Industry Sectors.

While hardrock mining under the 1872 Mining Law provides little or no economic benefits in the state of Oregon (or Josephine and Curry Counties), there are costs to the public from the clean-up of abandoned mines.

There also can be significant costs to the taxpayer when miners submit plans to mine in sensitive areas such as Wild and Scenic Rivers, Areas of Critical Environmental Concerns, Botanical Areas and Wilderness Areas. Perhaps most disturbing is the effects mines ultimately have on surrounding communities and property owners who suffer from the air and water pollution.

Click here for a brief account of a class action lawsuit brought against Glenbrook Nickel Corporations Coos Bay, Oregon nickel import facility.  And read Residents dread new mining outfit in the Coos Bay World.

Abandoned Mines: In Oregon alone, the GAO reports 140 abandoned hardrock mines sites where there is environmental degradation. Examples of environmental degradation include the contamination of surface and ground water or leaving arsenic-contaminated tailings piles. The report cites BLM and the Forest Service figures for abandoned mine sites at 5,827. See the GAO Hardrock Mining Report, pages 8 & 9 .

One of Oregon's most famous abandoned mine sites if the Formosa Mine in Douglas County, which was added to EPA's Toxic Superfund "National Priorities List" in 2007. See "Toxic Riddle: What happens when the money leaves but the mess stays behind." See also the Oregon Department of Health and Human Service's "Public Health Assessment" for the Formosa Mine.

Nationwide estimates are that it will cost between $32 billion and $72 billion and the public will foot most of the bill to clean up mining's toxic legacy. This for an industry that removed the mineral wealth from publicly owned lands for free and then left the public with the wastelands to cleanup. See Earthworks and Seattle PI "More than a century of mining has left the West deeply scared."