Ken Salazar on the 1872 Mining Law

I know this is getting old, but I think we need to stay on top of what is going on in the 'other' Washington.

The Q & A with Ken Salazar published at denverpost.com contains the following exchange with the new Interior secretary and former U.S. senator from Colorado regarding reform of the 1872 Mining Law:

The Post: Will you push for reform of the 1872 hard-rock mining law?

Salazar: Any law that has been out there for 136 years and has not been changed needs to be looked at. And in my view, the 1872 mining law is archaic in many ways and needs to be brought into modernity. There are lots of places where the environmental community and the mining community could reach consensus, including issues such as the patenting of public lands and the requirement that fair market value be paid for surface lands that are sometimes now patented as, essentially, giveaways.

The fallacy of "giveaways" of public land through patenting has been addressed so often before on this blog and elsewhere that I won't go into it again. What I find especially disturbing in this exchange, however, is the notion that the 1872 Mining Law needs reforming because it hasn't "been changed" in 136 years. If 'change for the sake of change' is really such a great idea, maybe Mr. Salazar would favor shredding the far older Constitution and Bill of Rights. But, wait! It too often seems that's already been done.