The Mining and Minerals Policy Act of 1970 was the first of a series of efforts by the United States Congress to address the seeming lack of a coordinated and comprehensive federal minerals policy. The act directed the Secretary of the Interior to follow a policy that encouraged the private mining sector in four ways: to develop a financially viable and stable domestic mining sector, to develop domestic mineral sources in an orderly manner, to conduct research to further "wise and efficient use" of these minerals, and to develop methods of mineral extraction and processing that would be as environmentally benign as possible. Given the broad and vague nature of these directives, it is difficult to determine what, if any, effect the law has had. For example, the U.S. Department of the Interior's report on the bill found that it...