Trump`s ”Gold Rush” style land grab in Utah begins today
The Trump regime`s decision to withdraw federal protections from millions of acres of public land in Utah last year will kick off a Wild West-era land claim process starting on Friday.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, on Friday morning private citizens and companies will be allowed to stake claims for hard rock mining under the General Mining Law of 1872.
Anyone can go to the land formerly held as the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah, hammer four poles into the ground covering up to 20 acres of land, write a handwritten claim notice, and leave it attached it to one of the poles.
That person then has 30 days to travel to an office of the Bureau of Land Management and file the claim.
The cost to file the claim is a very reasonable $212, and provides `prospectors` with exclusive mineral mining rights on their claim for uranium, gold, silver, copper and other precious metals. The claim, however, does not confer ownership of the land, and excludes coal and petroleum drilling rights.
Lauren Pagel, the policy director of the nonprofit Earthworks, criticized the law as an outdated land grab.
It`s really the last law still on the books from that Manifest Destiny era encouraging a resources free-for-all.
Conservationists and Native American tribe leaders have unsuccessfully fought the decision, which will consume sacred lands and archaeological sites central to the preservation of regional Native culture.
Meanwhile, it’s believed that large mining corporations have limited interest in the land beyond squatting on the rights. Uranium prices continue to stay low after demand plummeted following the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown in 2011.
Trump continues to sell the land grab as a victory for local governments against abusive federal overreach.
“Families and communities of Utah know and love this land the best, and you know the best how to take care of your land and how to conserve this land.
Photo: Open-pit mining in the western United States. Source: act.tv.
| Themes |
| • Access to natural resources • Destruction of habitat • ESC rights • Human rights • Indigenous peoples • Land rights • National • Norms and standards • Public policies |
