Worst Argument of the Day: Mining Fees Jeopardize Green Jobs

"Perhaps the most far-reaching example of irresponsible mining operations is Asarco, which declared bankruptcy in 2005. The century-old mining and smelting company left behind 94 Superfund sites in 21 states, with a total cleanup cost estimated at more than $1 billion, far more than the $62 million trust the company set aside for cleanup.

"In Idaho, Asarco is among mining companies responsible for contamination spread across the 1,500-square-mile Coeur d'Alene River basin. Cleanup work is likely to last for generations. EPA has estimated the cost of the first 30 years at $359 million.

"The Idaho Conservation League is also watching prospective cleanup costs mount from 17 contaminated sites caused by phosphate mining."

There you have it: A company has benefited greatly from lax U.S. laws, but have you as a taxpayer?

If you want to feel bad for today's mining companies, at least blame the right bogeyman: old mining companies. The new royalties would be used to pay for the cleanup at abandoned toxic mines.

Top 10 Most Polluting Active U.S. Mines (2007)

This is the list of the U.S. metal mines responsible for the most pollution in the last reported year. Four of the 10, including the top three, are owned or co-owned by companies based outside the U.S. Note that total pounds of pollution doesn't necessarily correlate with toxicity, since small concentrations of highly toxic compounds can have a disproportionately large health impact. (Also note that several of these facilities rank among the most highly polluting, in any industry, and several rank among the biggest emitters of mercury, which can be a potent neurotoxin.)

1. Teck-NANA Red Dog Operations Mine, the world's largest producer of zinc concentrate, is situated in a remote outpost in Alaska's Northwest Arctic Borough. Opened in 1989, the open pit mine is owned by Teck, a Canadian company with mines in Canada, the U.S., Chile and Peru, and NANA, an Alaskan Native corporation. The closest city is Kotzebue (Pop. 3,237), 82 miles away, and the mine's only connection to the outside world is via air, or an access road leading to a port on the Chukchi Sea, where zinc and lead are shipped for smelting elsewhere. In 2007, the mine owners sought permission to expand the mine and that expansion is currently open to public comment. In 2008, the company agreed to settle a Clean Water Act case and build a 52-mile pipeline to discharge mining wastes in the ocean, rather than in Red Dog Creek.

2. Rio Tinto Kennecott Utah Copper Mine Concentrators & Power Plant, the world's most prolific copper mine, is located in Copperton, Utah, just outside metro Salt Lake City. Its owner, the British-Australian international mining giant Rio Tinto Group boasts that "Since the original Utah Copper Company began mining the low-grade copper ore in Bingham Canyon (in 1906), the mine has become a huge open-pit that has produced more copper than any mine in the world, is one of the engineering marvels of the world, and is more than 3/4 of a mile deep and more than 2 3/4 miles wide at the top. And it is still growing." Indeed, it's been designated a National Historic Landmark. Kennecott plans to extend the mine's life past 2018, when it is currently slated to close. Rio Tinto has recently been accused, by China, of running an international fraud that cost the country $100 billion, a charge it denies.

3. Barrick Goldstrike Mine, which it's owner, Barrick calls "the most prolific gold mining district in the Western Hemisphere," is located 27 miles from Carlin, Nev. It was opened in 1996 and now produces more than 1 million ounces of gold annually. Barrick, based in Canada, is sometimes called the largest gold-mining company in the world. It's foray into Papua New Guinea led to the discovery, during pre-mining environmental studies, recently led to the discovery of 50 new species. The company has been criticized in some countries by indigenous people.

4. Newmont Twin Creeks Mine, one of five gold mines owned or jointly owned by Newmont Mining Corp in the same region of Nevada, is located 35 miles from Golconda. Newmont is one of the world's largest gold mining companies, and is based in Colorado.

5. Hecla Greens Creek Mine, an underground silver, zinc, gold and lead mine near Juneau, Alaska, is owned by a subsidiary of Hecla Mining Co., the oldest U.S.-based precious metal mining company in North America (established 1891). It is the sixth-largest silver mine in the world. Hecla is based in Idaho.

6. Barrick Ruby Hill Mine, another Barrick gold mine, is an open-pit, heap leach mine located just outside Eureka, Nev.

7. Newmont Carlin Mine is another of Newmont Mining Corp.'s mines in the Elko Trend gold desposit in Nevada. This one is near Elko.

8. Doe Run Buick Mine and Mill, in Boss, Mo., is part of what owner Doe Run calls the "largest integrated lead" production in the Western Hemisphere. Based in St. Louis, The Doe Run Co. is owned by New York holding company, the Renco Group. It's unclear how much of the pollution from this facility comes from the mine, and how much from the lead recycling plant at the same location.

9. Montana Resources Mine, is an open pit copper and molydenum mine in Butte, Mont. The llc is owned by The Washington Companies, controlled by Montana businessman Dennis R. Washington.

10. Newmont Lone Tree Mine is another of the mines owned or co-owned by Newmont Mining Corp. in the same region of Nevada, near Valmy.

For a complete list, use the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory.

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