科罗纳多CORONADO

我不得不承认，这是我遇到过的最疯狂的事情之一。世界资源研究所的《1994年环境信息年鉴》中有1872年采矿法的纲要。
I’ve got to admit, this is one of the craziest things I’ve come across, but – what the hey – might as well use it. The World Resources Institute’s 1994 Information Please Environmental Almanac has this rundown on the 1872 Mining Law that’s still on the books.

世界资源研究所，“1872年采矿法”，《1994年资料环境年鉴》，(波士顿:霍顿米夫林公司，1994年)，第164 - 166页。
World Resources Institute, “The 1872 Mining Law,” The 1994 Information Please Environmental Almanac, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1994), pp 164 – 166

它开头是这么写的：
It starts out by saying

1872年《采矿业法》的‘专利’条款允许潜在的矿工以每英亩2.5美元的低价格占有公共土地，这将从联邦财政中抽走数百万美元。该法律规定，申请人只需要在土地上做价值100美元的工作，并提供一种具有商业可行性的矿物证据，他们就可以专属享有（即购买）该土地上的资产和所有矿物。
The ‘patenting’ provisions of the 1872 Mining Law allow would-be miners to claim public lands for as little as $2.50 per acre, draining millions of dollars from the federal treasury. The law stipulates that claimants have only to do $100 worth of work on the land and give proof of a commercially viable mineral before they can ‘patent’ (meaning purchase) the land surface and all minerals within the claim.

我不知道在1872年每英亩2.5美元是否常见，但现在即使是一只狗也会认为这笔交易太划算了。年鉴上还写道:
I don’t know if $2.50 an acre was par for the course in 1872, but even a dog would call it a deal nowadays. The Almanac goes on to say:

"根据美国会计总会(GAO)的一份审查，1981年内华达州拉斯维加斯附近的1124美元专利申请现在价值200万美元。在科罗拉多州，17000英亩含有油页岩的土地以42500美元的价格获得专利，几周后以3700万美元的价格出售。亚利桑那州的一个开发商现在每年从他在1968年以155美元申请专利的土地上建造的希尔顿酒店获得近30万美元的年收入。美国会计总会说，1970年至1983年期间，政府从估计价值1380万至4790万美元的专利中获得的回报不到4500美元。
"Claims patented in 1981 near Las Vegas, Nevada, for $1,124 are now worth $2 million, according to a General Accounting Office (GAO) review. In Colorado, 17,000 acres that contain oil shale were patented for $42,500 and sold a few weeks later for $37 million. An Arizona developer now receives almost $300,000 per year from a Hilton hotel built on land he patented in 1968 for $155. Between 1970 and 1983, the GAO said, the government received less than $4,500 in return for patents that were estimated to be worth between $13.8 million and $47.9 million.

"根据1872年的法律，申请人甚至不需要开采他们的专利土地。为了维护他们的专用权，他们每年只需支付100美元的土地租金。而且，如果他们碰巧生产了可销售的矿产，政府也得不到任何利润。私人土地所有者通常会从他们土地上发现的矿产中获得特许使用费，政府从土地上的石油或天然气生产中获得总收入的12.5%，但矿产方面，一无所获。亚利桑那州的一座铜矿，直径2英里，深度1.5英里，只需6个小时就能生产出足够的矿石，收回菲尔普斯-道奇公司几十年前为其申请专利而花费的5万美元。国家野生动物基金会估计，如果对公共土地上生产的矿物征收12.5%的特许权使用费，联邦纳税人每年可以获得4亿美元。
"Under the 1872 law, claimants are not even required to mine the land they patent. To maintain their claims, they need only pay $100 rent per year on the land. And if they do happen to produce salable minerals, the government gets none of the profits. Private landowners usually get royalties for minerals found on their lands, and the government collects 12.5 percent of the gross income from oil or gas production on its lands, but for minerals, if gets nothing. One Arizona copper mine, two miles across and one-half mile deep, takes only six hours to produce enough ore to recoup the $50,000 it cost the Phelps-Dodge Corporation to patent it several decades ago. The National Wildlife Federation estimated that federal taxpayers could gain $400 million per year if a royalty of 12.5 percent were charged for minerals produced on public lands.

批评人士说，1872年的这部法律还包含了加剧采矿对环境破坏的条款。其中一个章节规定了在公共土地上的“采矿权”，并赋予它比其它用途更高的优先权。矿业申请人可以利用这一条款在几十年内占用大片公共土地。此外，还不要求申请人恢复他们开采过的土地。土地管理局(BLM)要求矿商为开垦每英亩土地支付2000美元的债券，但实际成本可能是这个的数倍。
The 1872 law also contains provisions that aggravate mining’s environmental damage, its critics say. One section establishes a ‘right to mine’ on public land, giving mining a higher priority than competing uses. Mining claimants can use this provision to tie up large tracts of public lands for decades. In addition, claimants are not required to restore the land they have mined out. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) requires miners to post bonds of $2,000 per acre for reclamation, but the actual costs may be many times that.

我想说的是，在这种情况下，你不做勘探工作真是个白痴了。西内现在在尝试，也许我们可以跳过收入场券的环节去看我们的演出了。
All I can say is you’ve got to be a moron to not do some prospecting given this kind of proposition. Sine’s on the case now, and then maybe we’ll be able to skip collecting admission to see our show.

● 获得书籍
● Get book