In a thinly-disguised endorsement of U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet’s bill to get reelected raise mining fees, the Denver Post’s Bruce Finely reports writes that the world has been poisoned by shuttered mines and taxpayers will be forced to pay a king’s ransom to fix it — unless Bennet’s bill passes.
“Tens of thousands of defunct mines poisoning waterways around Colorado and the West present, beyond environmental harm, a multi-billion dollar financial burden,” writes Finley, a born-again fiscal conservative.
Finley cites an analysis compiled by the Center for Western Priorities, a group dedicated to killing the mining industry, which predicts without any explanation of the size, scope or state of each of the 10,000 mines included in their study that the cleanups will cost $12 billion.
And don’t dare question that price tag, because it was determined by the environmental group’s political activists after reading a 1993 study written by another environmental group.
“We need our elected officials to pay attention to this problem,” said Jessica Goad (a member of the center). “The abandoned mines are not just an environmental time-bomb but also a financial time-bomb.”
Bombs? Poisoning? Come on guys, tone down the rhetoric.
Haven’t you heard?
The story goes on to promote Bennet’s bill that would require operating mining companies to pay fees in order to clean up abandoned mines on federal property, solving all our problems because it would raise “at least $100 million a year.”
At $100 million a year, that should take care of the problem … in 120 years.
Come on guys, Math matters, too.