By Gabriel Caplett
Salt Lake County, UT – Once more, Kennecott has gotten its way with the public’s land. This time it is in Salt Lake County, Utah.
For over a year, the company has been attempting to continue prospecting on two, large, public recreation areas, despite intense public and political opposition.
In an agreement reached between the Salt Lake County Council and the company, Councilman Joe Hatch says the process was rushed and that Kennecott behaved in a threatening and arrogant manner.
According to Hatch, “Their tone and manner and everything is, ‘we are gonna grind you up and bury you and spit you out…you have nothing to stand on and we’re gonna do everything in our powers to defeat you.’”
Fellow council member Jenny Wilson agrees with Hatch, and says the county was afforded only a few hours to review the agreement before voting on it and wasn’t able to consult with attorneys.
In 2007, the company filed 70 mining claims on a large swath of land the county was in the process of purchasing for public open space. The 1,700 acre Rose Canyon Ranch, located in the southern Oquirrh Mountains, is largely used for hiking, biking and horseback riding. In a move broadly supported by local residents, the county purchased the pristine mountain parcel for $8.7 million.
However, because of antiquated mining laws, the county does not own subsurface mineral rights to the property.
The Stock Raising Homestead Act of 1916 allowed homesteaders to privatize land considered to have no value except for livestock grazing and the growing of forage for cattle. These homesteaders held surface rights to the land, while the federal government retained mineral rights. Because the federal government owns mineral rights, the 1872 Mining Law applies, allowing any person or corporation to trespass, prospect, file a mining claim and a plan for a mining operation without the landowner’s permission.
In the nearly one hundred years since the Homestead Act was passed, the US public has cultivated an impressive appreciation for the recreational and conservational value of land once considered virtual wasteland, due to its relative insignificance for large-scale industrial use. Mining laws have failed to keep pace with these and other sweeping societal and environmental changes.
The county initially allowed Kennecott to prospect. As the work dragged on, and the county wasn’t adequately informed of the company’s work schedule, Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon felt “duty-bound to protect the investment” in the property and informed Kennecott that the county would not grant the company access without Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approval. In July, after Kennecott suggested it would land helicopters at the site, Corroon said the county would charge the company with trespassing if it continued prospecting. The county then petitioned the BLM for mineral rights to the tract to prevent future exploration.
In retaliation, Kennecott officials announced in September, that they would begin prospecting on 80 acres of county-owned Yellow Fork Canyon, a piece of land that, along with Rose Canyon and another parcel, gives county residents a nearly 4,000 acre recreation area.
Following the recent agreement with the company, Corroon acknowledged that, currently, mineral rights have precedence over property owner’s rights and that the county would likely lose a potential future BLM decision on the issue even if it denied Kennecott exploration access. Corroon maintains that the agreement does allow the county to deny an actual mining plan.
Mayor Corroon and Wendy Fisher, executive director of Utah Open Lands, have no regrets over the purchase of Rose Canyon Ranch and hope that Kennecott finds nothing of value in the area.
“This land is intended to be for the citizen’s use and enjoyment,” Corroon said. “We’d like to see it remain that way.”
Kennecott owns and operates the nearby Bingham Canyon Mine. The site is considered the second most toxic active mining operation in the United States.
Double-Standards in Michigan
Kennecott’s coup, in Utah, is reminiscent of the mining industry’s current public land grab in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, with companies utilizing both federal and state public land for its exploration and mining activities. In order to pursue its interest in mining metallic ore underneath the Salmon Trout River, on the Yellow Dog Plains, Kennecott has obtained a state surface use lease which allows the company to fence off and occupy 120 acres of public land until 2042. Eagle Rock, which is considered sacred to the nearby Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC), is located on this public land.
The Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act (NREPA) requires the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to “protect and conserve the natural resources of the State,” “prevent and guard against the pollution of lakes and streams within the State” and protect fish and game. The DNR also acknowledges that, under the public trust doctrine, the agency is responsible for protecting all wildlife “in trust for the benefit of the people of Michigan.” Wildlife potentially affected by Kennecott’s proposed operations include the federally-listed and endangered Kirtland’s warbler, the threatened Canada lynx and gray wolf as well as the rare coaster brook trout.
KBIC, in an effort to continue utilizing Eagle Rock for traditional ceremonial use, applied for a land use permit, through the DNR. The DNR denied the request because “permits may be issued” only “when the duration of the use of the…property is one year or less” and “the DNR does not typically issue open-ended permits for use at any time of the applicant’s choosing since the desired use may conflict with other users.” The DNR expressed concerns that KBIC’s ceremonial use might have “potential impacts to the resources” and that it could “conflict with other approved uses and activities in the vicinity.”
Current laws have been criticized for giving mining companies considerably more elbow room than public citizens and tribal nations. The DNR does not consider Kennecott’s multi-decade lease to conflict with other uses, including public recreation and traditional ceremonial use, or to warrant substantive and independent investigation into its potential affects on endangered and threatened species or KBIC’s internationally-recognized treaty rights, considered the highest law of the land.
LSMN
Eve Divine
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