Mining the West: Primary Elements

During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, lumber was consumed voraciously to fuel smelters, build mine supports and railroad tracks, and supply construction materials for growing towns. The Roy P. Full papers reveal the lumber consumption during this time period. Full, a geologist, served as an expert witness in Indian Land Claims cases. The Indian Claims Commission, established in 1946, created a process through which Native American tribes could pursue cases against the U.S. government for territory taken in violation of federal treaties. The tribes were awarded monetary compensation in lieu of land lost. Expert witnesses like Full assessed the amount and value of land and resources seized, including lumber and minerals that lay therein.

Concerns about environmental degradation and its effects on human health grew in the twenty-first century.  Representative Allan Howe (D-Utah, 1975-1977)  served on the Interior and Insular Affairs committee at a midpoint in the “environmental decade." His political papers include clear, accessible policy briefs written by Howe’s staffers regarding the creation of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA).

Prior to the passage of SMCRA, coal mines could be abandoned after resources were tapped or the ore was determined to be of low grade. SMCRA requires coal mine operators to plan for land reclamation following the closure of a mine; taxes imposed on each ton of coal extracted fund reclamation activities. Despite increased regulation post-1977, former mining sites continue to affect the American West landscape and its peoples. Utah has an estimated 16,000 abandoned mines and mill tailings sites, 500 of which are located on the Navajo Nation. In the 1990s, Kennecott Copper narrowly escaped being listed on the Superfund National Priorities by agreeing to clean up several zones that leached toxic chemicals into air, water, and land resources.

Although Rep. Howe supported the SMCRA, he also supported the 1975 Federal Coal Leasing Amendments Act, created to "stimulate the timely development and production of coal from federal leases."

Mineral resources continue to be a primary source of funding for many Utah state agencies.  Royalties from energy development leases (leases to private companies to drill on state and federal land) comprise the greatest source of income for the Utah public school system, as well as financing the Utah Department of Transportation and the Utah Geological Survey.

The papers of United States Senator Frank Moss, (D-Utah, 1959-1977) document the struggle for control over the mineral (including sodium, potassium, magnesium, and more), oil, and gas resources (and accompanying lease royalties) of the Great Salt Lake between the State of Utah and the federal government. Senator Moss was well-known for his support of environmental legislation, including his co-sponsorship of the Clean Air Act and other enactments that expanded national parks. However, Senator Moss counterbalanced this work with the economic concerns of the state.  When the federal government asserted control over the lakebed of the Great Salt Lake, Senator Moss, cognizant of the financial implications of this move, successfully drove the effort to designate the title of the lakebed to the State of Utah.  The majority of the lake is still open for new leases for salt, oil, and gas leasing (see maps 5.1 and 5.2 of the Final Great Salt Lake Mineral Leasing Plan and Record of Decision, March 2013). 

Andrea Bowers, Tim DeChristopher (I Am the Carbon Tax), 2010. UMFA2010.17.1.
Andrea Bowers, The United States vs. Tim DeChristopher, 2010. UMFA2010.17.2.

Los Angeles-based Andrea Bowers’ (b. 1965) portrait and film of Tim DeChristopher exemplifies the artist’s commitment to investigating the sociopolitical issues of climate change and social protest.

At the end of 2008, Tim DeChristopher, then enrolled as an economics student at the University of Utah, achieved notoriety by derailing a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) auction of oil and gas leases on southern Utah’s public lands. Environmentalists gathered outside the Salt Lake City building where the auction was being held, protesting the BLM’s “gift” to energy interests. DeChristopher took his protest a step further, taking a seat amongst the hopeful collectors after registering himself as “Bidder 70.” DeChristopher intentionally drove the parcel prices to extravagant heights that day by outbidding all of the auction offers, but chaos ensued when it became clear that the university student had no intent to use the 22,500 acres in question nor the $1.8 million necessary to fund his winning bids. The auction was brought to a halt as federal agents took DeChristopher into custody under fraud charges. A subsequent review proved to courts that most of the BLM’s lease offers at the auction were illegal. Nevertheless, DeChristopher was convicted and served 21 months in prison.

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