EDITORIAL & OPINION — Crown Jewel owners vow to fight back — Blind as a Babbitt

With an election imminent in the United States, miners and other resource developers south of the 49th Parallel are hoping the winds of change will be strong enough to blow their long-time nemesis, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, into political oblivion.

The owners of the Crown Jewel gold project in Washington state have ample reason to join the many thousands of American citizens who have had quite enough of Babbitt’s efforts to undermine existing laws governing resource development. After all, they’ve invested US$80 million, posted more than US$50 million in reclamation bonds and endured seven years of permitting hell, only to be held up by a ridiculous interpretation of the 1872 Mining Law regarding the patenting of mill site claims.

The adverse ruling by Babbitt’s interior department and the department of agriculture has industry-wide implications and could affect numerous projects under development in the U.S. And that’s why mining companies and their industry organizations have mounted a letter-writing campaign to senators and congressmen to complain about the ongoing assault on existing laws by unelected bureaucrats. Enough has become enough.

From the moment he took office, Babbitt has led a relentless crusade against mining companies in the equal-opportunity tradition advocated by the Democratic party. Big and small, he seems to loathe them all. He has never missed an opportunity to grandstand and make his case that mining in general, and the Mining Law in particular, should go the way of the dodo bird.

Years ago, he dressed up in period clothing and used a quill to protest having to sign over patented claims to companies under what he obviously believed were the antiquated terms of the mining law. At the same time, he ranted and raved about foreign companies helping themselves to Nevada’s golden treasures for the paltry sum of US$5 per acre or less, forgetting that it takes millions of dollars and years of hard work to find, explore and develop a mineral deposit and build a mine.

In more recent years, Babbitt repeatedly has tried to convince Congress to gut a law that has served the country well for more than 125 years. He has tried to rewrite the law without proper public comment or review. Now he’s trying to quash projects through interpretations of the Mining Law that are so twisted as to be incomprehensible.

All this might be understandable if the man were some rabid Earth Firster, without any understanding of science or how mineral deposits are discovered and developed. But Babbitt is a former governor from the mining state of Arizona, and a geophysicist by training. Granted, geophysicists are known to be a little eccentric at times — working with positive and negative charges and the like — but Babbitt has gone positively loopy with his born-again environmentalism.

The ongoing assault on mining has taken its toll, and the visceral dislike Babbitt has for miners is now mutual. Don’t ask an American miner for his opinion on Babbitt if you’re offended by salty language. It’s probably wise to broach the topic carefully, so as not endanger anyone with high blood pressure or a bad heart.

Reforms to the Mining Law may be warranted, but that process should be fair, open and involve all stakeholders. Until that happens, Babbitt and other government bureaucrats should respect existing laws and due process.

The time has come for all resource developers to support the owners of Crown Jewel by urging Congress to bring the interior and agriculture departments back to the traditional interpretations of the Mining Law. The time has come to draw a line in the sand.

Having received 51 permits and authorizations, with only a few minor ones left to obtain, the Crown Jewel decision should be reversed and mining allowed to go ahead in the responsible manner advocated by its owners. The industry deserves nothing less.