McCain, Mining & Global Warming
It is impossible for John McCain to simultaneously write legislation for mining company land exchanges and also claim that he will work to reduce global warming at the same time.
McCain's "environmental record would make Teddy Roosevelt cringe" [110]
McCain has voted many times to cut funding for toxic-waste cleanups, he has supported subsidies for mining on public lands, and he favors reopening national forest lands to logging. [110]
Mining is the biggest toxic polluter in USA
-and the companies that McCain is backing are the worst polluters on the planet :
Rio Tinto is the parent company of Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation, which is responsible for the largest toxic plume in U.S. history. [29]
Rio Tinto once again was the country's biggest single toxic culprit - due to its huge Bingham Canyon mine in Utah. [122]
In 2001, as in previous years, the mining industry proved to be the biggest single source of toxic releases in the country, with copper, zinc, lead and mercury posing the heaviest risks.
What's more, the US administration is allowing mining companies to forgo the reporting of toxic chemicals present in their waste rock dumps. This, say critics, could result in the concealment of evidence of up to half the pollution caused by the mining industry. [45]
Globally, BHP Billiton produces 50 million tonnes of greenhouse pollution a year, equivalent to about 10 per cent of Australia's emissions.
It is important that this big international business has a policy, but its policy is weak. The company has failed to set any targets for gross reductions in its greenhouse emissions. [44]
MCCAIN⁄KYL LAND EXCHANGE WILL SACRIFICE ARIZONA ENVIRONMENT FOR MINING PROFITS THAT WILL BE GOING OVERSEAS
The metal mining industry reported the largest total release of toxic chemicals, accounting for 45 percent of the nation's total, followed by the electric utilities industries with 17 percent and the chemical industry with 9.5 percent. Nevada released some 783 million pounds of toxic chemicals, more than any other state. Utah was second with 767 million pounds, followed by Arizona with 607 million pounds and Alaska with 522 million pounds. [45]
Arizona and Alaska already rank 3rd and 4th for largest amounts of toxic chemicals - before the proposed mines even exist
ARIZONA:
Toxic releases up 15% in state
Tens of millions of pounds of toxic chemicals were released into Arizona's air, water and land in 2005, a 15 percent jump from the previous year, according to a federal agency.
Four months later, John McCain and Jon Kyl introduce legislation for the third year in a row for the Resolution Copper mine. [38]
Toxic releases nationwide went up 3 percent during that time, according to new data from the Environmental Protection Agency. But as mining has grown in Arizona, so has the presence of toxics in the environment.
Mines and metal facilities were responsible for the majority of the 65.2 million pounds of toxics released in Arizona. [39]
Arizona State does not require bonds for cleanup as does other states, including New Mexico. Taxpayers could be stuck with a big bill should the company fail economically. [27]
Some fear that some pollution from the mining industry might not be included in future TRI reports, as the Bush administration is not fighting a judge's decision to allow mining companies to stop reporting non PBT toxic chemicals in waste rock if they do not exceed a concentration of one percent.
"We expect that the Bush administration's decision will allow the nation's most toxic industry to just stop reporting half their pollution," said Baumann.
"But half of 2.8 billion pounds is hardly trifling. EPA should issue new rules eliminating the exemption or clarifying that it cannot be used to hide millions of pounds of pollution." [45]
Mountaintop removal, the ultimate form of strip mining
The Bush administration seems to be rushing to get in a rewrite of environmental regulations that would make mountaintop removal coal mining easier for the mining companies but at considerable cost to the landscape and almost assuredly the taxpayers.
The regulatory-averse administration has reason to hurry. Democrat Barack Obama has indicated that he opposes mountaintop removal, and recently in a surprise development, Republican John McCain said he did as well. [168]
-Although mountaintop removal will not be employed at the Resolution Copper Mine, should the Kyl-McCain land exchange bill pass, the land will be transferred from public to private, and the foreign mining companies would be free to use any techniques they chose, will little or no accountability or liability. Potential damages from this large of a mine may far surpass mountaintop removal, and massive subsidence is a real possibility, "sinking" Apache Leap instead of cutting the top off of it. [Subsidence see 29]