Considering how mining has and is occasionally still done, the term is often deserved. What I don't understand about mining is why they don't turn the site into something useful and interesting when they're done. Hell, they could even hire a watercolor artist to arrange the tailings into interesting array and make something beautiful.
It can be done you know.
There are very strong mining reclaimation laws in CA these days. I’m not happy with the Sierra Club’s combative position in the 80’s and early 90’s... “Mining Free by ‘93” for example.