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The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports on how the 1872 General Mining Law has allowed multinational companies to take billions in gold and other precious metals from public lands in the West. "They are grinding mountains into rubble, dousing the piles of rock with cyanide, paying no royalties into federal coffers for the privilege, and often leaving behind scarred land, tainted water and huge cleanup bills," the stories reveal. The findings include that more than 16,000 miles of waterways have been polluted across the West, and that environmental damage on federal lands would cost $72 billion to fix. The formidable lobbying power of the mining industry has so far prevented the lawmakers from amending the antiquated law.