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Show ploration activity should be imposed. Performance requirements could be some combination of time limits, rentals, or work similar to the present Mining Law assessment provision.9 These requirements would be made conditions of retaining an exploration right during its term or renewing or extending it upon expiration of its initial term. Strict conditions for the renewal or extension of the primary term would also stimulate diligent activity. There should not be any distinction between lode and placer claims, and no extralateral rights to minerals outside of claim boundaries should be acquired.10 The reasons for these provisions no longer exist, and the resulting legal uncertainties discourage sound mineral development. The only rationale for these provisions today would be the inadequacy of the 20-acre claim limitation, and our recommendation to provide for exploration claims large enough for modern techniques solves this problem. Similarly, periodic written notice to Federal and county officials of compliance with performance obligations owed to the United States should be required as a condition to validity of each mining claim. Protecting the Environment While the Federal Government today retains the right to manage surface values on unpatented mining claims to the extent the locator does not need them in his bona fide mineral efforts,11 there are presently no adequate regulations defining the relative rights of the Federal Government and the locator. Furthermore, it is questionable whether such regulations could be adequately enforced, since present law does not require written notice of claim locations to land management agencies. In our view, this situation is not consistent with reasonable measures to protect surface values, or to maintain environmental quality in the vicinity of such claims. Upon receipt of the required notice of location, a permit should be issued to the locator, subject to administrative discretion exercised within strict limits of congressional guidelines, for the protection of surface values. While an administrator should have no discretion to withhold a permit, he should 9 Ibid. 10 A lode claim under the Mining Law of 1872 is required generally where a mineral deposit is held in place by rock in a fashion which permits reasonably distinct identification of its boundaries. A placer claim is any other claim made under the act, but is generally applied to diffused or broken mineral deposits. For a discussion of the distinction between lode and placer claims see University of Arizona and Twitty, Sievwright & Mills, Nonfuel Minerals. PLLRC Study Report, 1970, Chapter 8. For a discussion of extralateral rights see Chapter 12, B, 2 of the same study. "SOU.S.C. §612(b) (1964). have the authority to vary these restrictions to meet local conditions. It is our view that protection of environmental values must cover all phases of mineral activity from exploration, through development and production, to reasonable postmining rehabilitation. The conditions to be included in permits and other instruments later in the process, except as necessary to accomodate circumstances in a particular locality, should have been established through the formal rulemaking procedure we recommend in the chapter on Administrative Procedures. We recognize that the on and offsite impacts of mineral operations vary widely according to soil type, drainage relief, topography, rainfall, temperature, seasons, vegetative cover, weather pattern, and proximity of population and travel routes. Because of these differences, flexibility is indispensable to sound administration in these matters; but their discretion should be limited by congressional guidelines. Where mineral activities cause a disturbance of public land, Congress should require that the land be restored or rehabilitated after a determination of feasibility based on a careful balancing of the economic costs, the extent of the environmental impacts, and the availability of adequate technology for the type of restoration, rehabilitation, or reclamation proposed. Rehabilitation does not necessarily mean restoration, but rather the maximum feasible effort to bring the land into harmony with the surrounding area. Up to the time commercial production commences, exploration, development, and production plans should be reviewed by the land managing agency for consideration of environmental factors, but administrators should be required to approve or disapprove the plans within a reasonable time. Plans of this kind must be submitted before the development and production of certain minerals under the existing leasing systems, and we believe it is in the public interest to require a similar procedure for locatable minerals. Essentially, this recommendation would merely formalize the voluntary process already employed by some mining companies.12 Under the principles of our recommendations in Chapter Sixteen, adverse determinations would be subject to judicial review. Development and Production Rights Under the existing Mining Law, there has been substantial litigation over the legal requirements for the discovery of valuable minerals. In view of recent judicial administrative rulings, a mineral ex- 12 See Rocky Mountain Center on Environment, Environmental Problems on the Public Land, case study No. 3. PLLRC Study Report, 1970. 127 |