President Biden's Executive Order (EO) 14031 establishes a federal Interagency Working Group (IWG).  They will be addressing many concerns in addition to highly needed reform of the General Mining Act of 1872.  Both the Dawson Ranch Homeowners Association and the Arkansas Valley Conservation Coalition (AVCC) have signed onto/supported this letter.  I have posted the letter here so you can become aware of this effort. Perhaps if it reforms were in place proposals such as the hard rock gold mine above the Canon City water supply would never have been considered.  

Please consider signing your organization onto this letter asking the IMG on mining reform to recommend circular economy policies that collect, recycle, and reuse the minerals used in existing clean energy technologies, and policies to substitute and reduce overall demand for materials from new mining. This letter is high-level comments, not the technical comments that will start circulating soon; your organization is encouraged to sign onto all technical and non-technical comments.

Dear members of the Interagency Working Group on Mining Reform,

On behalf of the undersigned organizations and our members and supporters, please accept these comments to the Interagency Working Group (IWG) on Mining Reform.[1] We strongly support immediately transitioning to a justly-sourced renewable energy economy to prevent further destruction from the climate crisis. The climate crisis has disproportionately harmed, and continues to harm, those who have contributed to it the least.

We share the serious[2] concerns[3] expressed by the Administration about mining’s impacts to communities under the current laws and rules. Rather than rely on extraction, we urge the IWG to recommend circular economy policies that collect, recycle, and reuse the minerals used in existing clean energy technologies, and policies to substitute and reduce overall demand for materials from new mining.

Where mining is absolutely necessary, the IWG should recommend that mining be conducted in a sustainable, just, and equitable way. For companies, this means accountability to human rights and environmental standards, and only operating with the full consent of the communities they impact. For Congress, this means updating the 1872 Mining Law and passing circular economy legislation for the clean energy technologies needed for a swift and equitable transition.[4] For public lands agencies, this means granting the petition for new mining rules sought by mining-impacted communities [5] and that all public land or environment agencies complete rulemakings that modernize their mining related regulations. For other IWG agencies, this means forming the linear supply chain links for minerals into a circle, and requiring companies perform gender-responsive human rights and environmental due diligence across their supply chains.

The renewable energy economy can avoid repeating the mistakes of the fossil fuel era by meeting the mineral demand in the most sustainable way possible: by recycling, reusing, and extending the life of materials we already have. Research shows that circular economy solutions such as recycling can significantly reduce demand for many crucial minerals.[6] By prioritizing demand reduction strategies like mineral recycling, reuse, and substitution, the US can reduce its reliance on global suppliers.

The European Union has voted to enact legislation (EU Battery Directive) requiring recycled content, mandatory takeback, and other battery policies, which the US should use as the foundation for building our own circular economy infrastructure–or risk falling further behind.[7] Congress and the Administration can also continue to fund research into more efficient battery technologies that use less or more readily-available materials, and enact policies that shift travel away from single-occupancy vehicles towards public transportation, carpooling, and walking, and biking.

Where new mining is absolutely necessary, governments of all levels must take special care to protect communities, biodiversity, and natural resources, particularly those relied on by Indigenous peoples and protected by treaties.

Other recommendations for the IWG are as follows:

- Respect the sovereignty of Indigenous peoples, specifically by requiring their free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) for any government actions in the mineral supply chain that may impact their community, lands, or cultural resources;
- Make anti-corruption a priority by ensuring that the corruption risks posed by mineral supply chains are recognized and addressed across government and law enforcement agencies, including in engagement with the private sector;
- Align federal mining reform recommendations with international law and emerging norms around responsible business conduct, including the requirement to conduct gender-responsive human rights and environmental due diligence across their supply chains;
- Impose human rights and anti-corruption requirements on all federal grants, loans, loan guarantees and procurement related to mineral supply chains;
- Protect public and Indigenous peoples’ ancestral lands from undue degradation including substantial harm to important environmental, historical, cultural, biodiverse, or other resources, including specific Indigenous resources and religious protections;[8]
- Require best practices, rules, and plans for millsites, tailings, underground lateral drilling, climate impacts, and financial assurances, including for long-term water treatment; and
- Institute an enforcement system with independent auditing and remedies.

This IWG has the opportunity to live up to the President’s promise to address “the historic injustices that too many mining operations have left behind.”[9] Those injustices stem, in part, from settler-colonial policies, enforced by the Departments of War and Interior, that disproportionately harmed Indigenous people during the 19th century precious metals rush.[10] Departments of Defense and Energy mining subsidies compounded this intergenerational trauma during the 20th century uranium rush.[11]

We do appreciate the administration’s commitments to Justice40,[12] environmental justice,[13] and Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge (ITEK).[14] We also support the Interior Department’s new Missing and Murdered Unit,[15] which seeks to address the staggering rates of violence against Indigenous persons, especially women and girls–much of which is connected to extraction. These commitments compel this interagency working group to recommend more circular supply chains, require FPIC, due diligence, transparency, and update our mining laws and rules.  

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Earthjustice
Earthworks

The link to this letter and the EO can be found at: rdominguez@earthworksaction.org.