Spring Break
Land Patent Law Must Be Revised
Issue date: 10/21/05 Section: Commentary
In 1872, Congress passed a mining law allowing the federal government to sell mineral-rich public lands to mining companies for just $2.50 or $5 per acre. This sale process, known as a patent, was created to encourage mid-western settlement and to promote the mining industry. Today, more than 13 decades after it was enacted, the law still remains on the books - with land being sold at the same exceptionally low rates.
Since October 1994, Congress has voted every year to temporarily ban mining companies from submitting new applications for western land sales, as the legally mandated sale price of these lands amounts to only an extremely small percentage of their actual value. However, despite this ban on new applications, patent applications filed before 1994 still can be approved for sale. Under the Bush administration, the Bureau of Land Management has already approved 139 of the nearly 200 applications filed before the ban and is still considering 50 others. Additionally, the administration and the Republican-controlled Congress are pushing to lift the ban on new applications, a move that invites a slew of new companies to apply for western land patents.
This sort of outrageous behavior is utterly unconscionable. To continue allowing companies to acquire land at far less than market value diametrically opposes the public interest, as the patent process unjustly gives private mining companies the ability to cheaply obtain land in ways that the average citizen cannot.
The patent process is also flawed in that it gives mining companies absolute control over the land after its sale. This encourages an abuse of the law's provisions, as companies have repeatedly sold the land to private developers without making any effort to mine it at profits of more than $10,000 per acre. As a result, pristine mountains, sold to benefit American industry, turn into luxurious ski resorts catering to the rich at the public's expense, and on the government's dollar, no less.
Seeing as American industry thrives and the West has long been settled, it is Congress' obligation to put a halt to the now obsolete land patent process. At the absolute least, Congress needs to update the antiquated prices dictated by this law to account for the land's actual value. Considering that the federal government has run up a multi-billion dollar deficit without specifically laying out a plan to repay the nation's debts, it is entirely illogical to allow this country to lose the millions of dollars that could be gained through these land sales by operating under such an anachronistic pricing system.
Since October 1994, Congress has voted every year to temporarily ban mining companies from submitting new applications for western land sales, as the legally mandated sale price of these lands amounts to only an extremely small percentage of their actual value. However, despite this ban on new applications, patent applications filed before 1994 still can be approved for sale. Under the Bush administration, the Bureau of Land Management has already approved 139 of the nearly 200 applications filed before the ban and is still considering 50 others. Additionally, the administration and the Republican-controlled Congress are pushing to lift the ban on new applications, a move that invites a slew of new companies to apply for western land patents.
This sort of outrageous behavior is utterly unconscionable. To continue allowing companies to acquire land at far less than market value diametrically opposes the public interest, as the patent process unjustly gives private mining companies the ability to cheaply obtain land in ways that the average citizen cannot.
The patent process is also flawed in that it gives mining companies absolute control over the land after its sale. This encourages an abuse of the law's provisions, as companies have repeatedly sold the land to private developers without making any effort to mine it at profits of more than $10,000 per acre. As a result, pristine mountains, sold to benefit American industry, turn into luxurious ski resorts catering to the rich at the public's expense, and on the government's dollar, no less.
Seeing as American industry thrives and the West has long been settled, it is Congress' obligation to put a halt to the now obsolete land patent process. At the absolute least, Congress needs to update the antiquated prices dictated by this law to account for the land's actual value. Considering that the federal government has run up a multi-billion dollar deficit without specifically laying out a plan to repay the nation's debts, it is entirely illogical to allow this country to lose the millions of dollars that could be gained through these land sales by operating under such an anachronistic pricing system.