The role played by hardrock mining in the nation's expansion from shore to shore is incalculable. More easily quantified is the imprint that mining has made on the people, wildlife and landscapes of the West. And that calculation clearly shows that for hardrock mining today, both time and place are out of joint.

In its 21st century incarnation, the West is primarily urban, while the 19th century law that gave metals miners free rein to pan and dig where they pleased has survived nearly intact. This disparity between eras and long practice has had appalling consequences for the people, the environment and the public lands of the West, as well as for the nation's taxpayers, and the toll grows by the day.

That is why Congress must finally rewrite the antiquated General Mining Act of 1872 to tax and regulate mining of gold, silver, uranium, copper and other valuable minerals, just as coal and natural gas producers have long been taxed and regulated. It is also why we applaud Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who on Tuesday told the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources that mining reform is dangerously overdue and urgently needed.

The 1872 law ensures that mining is rated "the highest and best use" of public lands where there are minerals present, never mind its impacts on public health, wildlife, and the West's most scenic and sensitive splendors. And it gives this wealth of public resources tax-free to the mining companies. They, in turn, continue to add to the law's legacy of abandoned mines and deadly pollutants such as mercury, arsenic, and uranium that contaminate the watersheds so crucial to inhabitants of the arid West. Because many mine owners do not adequately reclaim the land, federal taxpayers are on the hook for the billions of dollars required to clean up the toxic mess left behind.

Hardrock minerals worth roughly $1 billion are pulled from public lands each year, tax-free. And mining companies can "patent" public land for years for their exclusive use, without paying the rental or user fees that are charged to ranchers and recreationists, for example. Heavily regulated coal, oil, and gas companies, which pay to lease public land, pay up to 17 percent in production royalties.

Current legislation that would tax hardrockers up to 5 percent and mandate cleanup costs faces heavy going. Representatives of minerals states argue the reforms would devastate some communities and the industry's ability to compete in global markets.

We believe those arguments pale before the higher price exacted by a law written for another time.