A Shiny Assault On Clean Water
Both Water & Minerals Are Important Resources. So How Would Fast-Tracking Mining Projects Impact Our Water?
Trailblazing biologist and nature writer Rachel Carson once wrote, “The real wealth of the Nation lies in the resources of the earth—soil, water, forests, minerals, and wildlife.”
She penned these words in a 1953 letter to the editor of the Washington Post, which was picked up by an Associated Press wire and reprinted in Reader’s Digest. For more background, check out this essay.
Carson wrote in an attempt to catch the eye of President Dwight Eisenhower as he was taking office, and his administration swiftly began instituting policies that could destroy nature in the name of business.
Today, we are taking a closer look at mineral mining and water contamination, because in March President Trump signed an executive order to increase mineral production in the U.S.
“The United States was once the world’s largest producer of lucrative minerals, but overbearing Federal regulation has eroded our Nation’s mineral production,” the order reads. “Our national and economic security are now acutely threatened by our reliance upon hostile foreign powers’ mineral production.”
It’s true that minerals are essential for technologies across our economy, including in energy, defense, health care, and electronics. They are vital for electric vehicle batteries.
The order calls to fast-track “mining projects for copper, uranium, potash, gold, and any critical mineral, element, compound, or material identified by the chair of the National Energy Dominance Council.”
But how will this directive impact our water?
All that glitters is not gold.
Water has been called “mining’s most common casualty” by James Lyon of the Mineral Policy Center, now known as Earthworks.
Under the 1872 Mining Law, public land was freely given to mining companies, which have taken hundreds of billions of dollars in minerals without paying a dime to U.S. taxpayers, according to the org. The mining industry has littered the landscape with 500,000 abandoned mines and left taxpayers with the clean-up bill.
Learn more about the abandoned mine inventory of the U.S. here.
Mining operations impact freshwater resources in two main ways, according to safewater.org, 1) by consuming large quantities of water during ore processing activities, and 2) by contaminating water sources through the release of mine discharge and leakage from tailings storage and waste rock facilities.
The new executive order does not discuss how every day millions of gallons of water loaded with arsenic, lead, and other toxic metals flow from some of the most contaminated mining sites in the U.S. and into surrounding streams and ponds without being treated, according to reporting from the Associated Press.
This pollution stands as a legacy of how the mining industry was allowed to operate in the U.S. for more than a century, according to the A.P.
Companies that built mines for silver, lead, gold, and other hardrock minerals took off once they were no longer profitable, leaving behind contaminated water that still seeps from the abandoned mines and *sometimes* gets cleaned up—with taxpayer dollars.
It wasn’t until the ‘70s that the federal government established requirements for mine operators to reclaim the land after their operations ceased to minimize or address the environmental impacts of the mining operations.
In 2019, federal agencies identified about 140,000 remnants of mining operations from before that time. The A.P. looked at just 43 mining sites under federal oversight, some containing dozens or even hundreds of individual mines, using data from public records requests and independent research.
The records determined that at average flows, more than 50 million gallons of contaminated wastewater streams daily from the sites. In many cases, it runs untreated into nearby groundwater, rivers, and ponds. That’s about a 20-million-gallon daily dose of pollution that could fill more than 2,000 tanker trucks.
Hardrock mines and features on federal lands pose risks to human health or wildlife, according to a 2023 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, which found at least 22,500 known abandoned hardrock mine features that could leak toxic chemicals into nearby waterways.
The Departments of the Interior and Agriculture spent about $109 million and $10 million, respectively, to clean up contamination during fiscal years 2017-2021. The agencies reported that they had more abandoned hardrock mines than funds to clean them up.
Now, consider recent moves to weaken the Clean Water Act. The 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency dramatically reduced what wetlands deserve protection from pollution. Watersheds are vulnerable.
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask the mining industry of this country to conduct business responsibly.
“The ethical and strategic way to handle this situation is for the federal government and environmentalists to encourage this industry to return to the United States and to hold it to the highest sustainability standards,” wrote Stephen Lezak, an environmental researcher at Oxford and Berkeley, in a 2024 New York Times opinion piece. “Because safe and ethical mines are more expensive to run, consumers will have to pay a small premium for products with minerals sourced from these operations. Many of us are already paying more for responsibly sourced goods, such as chocolate and coffee. We should demand the same for our smartphones and batteries.”
These expensive hurdles include “paying fair wages, safely storing toxic waste, and setting aside money for cleanup.” Lezak notes that some mining companies prefer to try to make larger profits by operating in countries with cheaper labor and laxer regulations.
But it’s not the only way. Large companies like Apple or General Motors could commit to purchasing ethically sourced materials, he suggests. This move might incentivize miners and investors to sell the materials at a higher price like organic farmers do with organic food.
Federal and state governments could also commit to purchasing only vehicles with materials sourced from mines certified by groups like the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance, he writes.
So why do we want to increase mining projects?
We live in an uncertain world hedging bets on the economy.
If you are reading this article on your smart phone, you should know that it contains about 60 different types of metals, many of which are mined.
Minerals, such as gold, silver, and copper, play an important role in the U.S. economy by contributing to multiple industries. However, mining introduces the potential for serious public health, safety, and environmental hazards, particularly if a mine has been abandoned.
Consider Arizona—a state known for its rich reserves of uranium and copper.
Mining employs nearly 50,000 Arizonans, according to the Arizona Mining Association, and the copper sector accounts for two-thirds of domestic production.
The largest uranium producer in the country is there too, just south of Grand Canyon National Park. This controversial project is back to work after sitting dormant since the ‘80s.
New interest in uranium mining brings potential new threats to the environment. Advocates argue that the mine is located too close to the Colorado River, and they worry about water contamination.
Many water sources on the Navajo Nation in northeastern Arizona remain polluted from uranium mining activity in that region.
Bristol Bay, Alaska, a pristine ecosystem and home to the world’s largest salmon fishery, is also the site of decade-long looming open-pit copper and gold mine.
In a 2024 legal challenge filed in an Alaskan federal court, the State, Pebble Limited Partnership and its parent company, Northern Dynasty Minerals, sought to strike down an EPA determination issued in 2023 to protect the watershed under Section 404(c) of the Clean Water Act.
In 2020, the first Trump administration did the right thing by blocking the project. But who knows what might get approved under this new executive order?
Full disclosure: I am an executive producer of “Unearth,” a documentary that made its world premiere at DOC NYC last year. The story follows two sets of siblings, the Salmon sisters and the Strickland brothers, who live in Bristol Bay.
Both sets of siblings are alarmed when they learn of and fight against advanced plans for a Pebble Mine in the vicinity of their homes. The Salmon sisters, Native Alaskans, work on the regulatory front, pushing the EPA to block the project, while the Strickland brothers, independent fishermen, expose the truth behind what the Pebble Mine developer is telling the public.
The documentary shows systemic failures in mining and the balance between the need for materials and their environmental costs.
I know a little something about facing powerful entities, and I am inspired by the unwavering determination to safeguard Bristol Bay. The film is a testament to the promise activism holds in the face of fatigue and disillusionment.
Despite my love of water and natural places, I’m not foolish enough to think that we don’t enjoy a certain standard of living thanks to business and industry. We need jobs and commerce. We also need to preserve our natural resources.
It’s not not about rejecting modern life but it’s also not allowing business to hastily carry on, making people sick or destroying the water we all need to live.
What I see is this:
Prevention → Monitoring → Regulation & Policy → Enforcement
On one side of the political spectrum, many people harp about how there is too much regulation and red tape for businesses to function. I want these same voices to get loud about how companies plan to prevent accidental toxic spills. I want them to join me in advocating for more clean-up plans and community oversight, even after a company leaves a site. Right?!
We could save so much money and resources (our tax dollars) on regulations and enforcement if companies put more attention and emphasis on prevention and clean-up. They spend the money anyway—in huge legal departments to help circumvent regulations and hefty fines after they have polluted. Just shift the budget.
If we are going to make America get back into mining hardrock minerals, let’s do it safely for communities throughout the country.
I’m not an expert on mining and minerals, so let me know what I missed! Add your thoughts or questions to the conversation below.