Babbitt renews calls for revising mining law

Matt Kelley

Monday, April 24, 2000 | 4:45 a.m.

WASHINGTON - Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt has never been shy about criticizing the 1872 law governing mining on federal land. On Tuesday, he returns to his Arizona hometown to renew his calls for reforming the law.

Babbitt plans to visit the White Vulcan pumice mine on the flanks of the San Francisco Peaks which tower over his hometown of Flagstaff, Ariz. The Interior Department does not control the land under the mine - it's in the Coconino National Forest, under the Agriculture Department - but Babbitt says the mine is "a poster child for the abuses" of the law.

The law lets companies buy land for as little as $2.50 an acre to mine hardrock minerals such as gold, silver and copper. Companies are not required to pay royalties to the government for the minerals they get.

Pumice, a lightweight, gritty volcanic rock used in making concrete and stonewashed blue jeans, is considered a hardrock mineral when it is mined in large enough chunks.

"The abuse in this case is staking a mining claim, not for some mineral that's necessary for industry or national security, but for the stonewashing of blue jeans," Babbitt said.

A receptionist at Tufflite Inc., the Phoenix-based company which owns the White Vulcan mine, referred questions to company lawyer Doug Martin, who declined to comment.

Babbitt said the law should be changed to give federal officials the option to turn down mining claims on federal land. The only way to do that now is through a cumbersome process of removing an entire area from any possible mining claims or creating a national monument.

"The important thing under the mining law is to have some test of suitability so that these sort of mining promotions don't have an automatic right to tear down any landscape at their discretion," Babbitt said. "That's the real issue here. There never should have been a mining claim on this mountain."

Babbitt admitted that Congress is unlikely to tackle the issue during this election year. Mining operations are often one of the few sources of high-paying jobs in the rural West, and most western Republicans oppose the kind of restrictions Babbitt wants.

Congress passed an industry-backed mining law reform measure in 1995, but Clinton said it had too many loopholes and vetoed it.

"The 1872 mining law has shortcomings. It's antiquated. Certainly, it needs to be reformed," said Karen Batra of the National Mining Association. "But we don't think they (Babbitt and Clinton) are willing to work with us to come up with a reasonable package."

Back in Arizona, environmentalists and American Indians have teamed up to try to block a proposed 30-acre expansion of the 100-acre pumice pit. They argue the peaks, which contain Arizona's highest point at 12,633 feet, are sacred to all area tribes. The dormant volcano is one of the four sacred mountains delineating the traditional borders of the Navajo Nation, for example.

"The mountain is everything to us. It is life to us," said Sammy James, a Navajo working with the Sierra Club to oppose the mine. "There is no reason why the mining should continue."

Babbitt agrees.

"It's right above my hometown. It's a sacred mountain to me," he said.

The Forest Service has proposed banning new mining in 74,000 acres surrounding the White Vulcan mine, which is on the eastern flanks of the peaks and is not visible from a heavily used highway nearby. The Forest Service also is suing the mine's operator, Tufflite Inc. of Phoenix, arguing that the company should have paid royalties on pumice that was too small to be considered a hardrock mineral.

Babbitt's department also has tried to make it harder to mine in areas considered sacred by American Indians, moving to block a proposed gold mine in the California Desert Conservation Area because the land is sacred to the Quechan tribe. National Mining Association President Richard Lawson called that move "another shortsighted effort by this administration to remove lands from public use without congressional input."

"It's a fight that has to be resolved," Babbitt said. "The position of the mining industry is, 'Cultural resources be damned. We have an absolute right to wreck the landscape anywhere, anyplace, at the time of our choosing."'