Who Owns the West?

EWG's New Data Investigation Reveals Who Controls U.S. Public Lands Throughout the Mountain West

WASHINGTON - Environmental Working Group's (EWG) year-long investigation of federal data and records on hardrock mining operations gives the public its first comprehensive look at who has profited from the giveaway of their lands and mineral resources.

The interactive report is online at http://www.ewg.org, and it allows visitors to use regional, state and local maps to find the location of mining lands as well as their owners.

EWG researchers used sophisticated data tools and mapping software to synthesize 125 million records hidden in an obscure government database into a detailed analysis showing taxpayers - literally - who owns 9.3 million acres of the American West, tract by tract, company by company, and nation by nation. The investigation reveals the very low prices paid to the U.S. government for operations that often leave multi-billion dollar clean up bills for taxpayers.

"What you see in this investigation is a taxpayer rip-off of epic proportions," according to EWG Analyst Dusty Horwitt. "The U.S. has given away millions of acres of its public lands, often for less than a dollar per acre. In return, mining interests have left polluted lands and rivers that cost taxpayers billions of dollars to clean up," said Horwitt.

EWG's findings are released to the public on the 132nd anniversary of the 1872 Mining Law, which continues to authorize the land transactions investigated by the website.

Analysis of federal data found that:

• For as little as $0.84 an acre, more than 28,000 companies and individuals have gained control of precious metals and minerals on 5.6 million acres of claimed public land and 3.7 million acres of patented public land across 12 continental Western states;
• Ninety-four foreign-owned corporations from 10 countries have gained control of metals beneath one of every five acres of claimed lands in the United States - an estimated 1.2 million acres of public land altogether;
• Metal mining accounted for 46 percent of pollution reported by all industries in2001, yet comprised just 0.36 percent of the number of industrial operations.

EWG is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to using the power of information to protect human health and the environment.

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