Congress to Revisit Hard-rock Mining Reform at House Hearing
News for Immediate Release
Feb. 25, 2009
Contact: Katie McKalip, 406-240-9262, kmckalip@trcp.org
Chris Hunt, 208-552-0891, chunt@tu.org
Congress to Revisit Hard-rock Mining Reform at House Hearing
Sportsmen’s coalition continues to advocate common-sense reform of 1872 law,
urges establishment of funds for fish and wildlife restoration
WASHINGTON – As the U.S. House of Representatives weighs revision of hard-rock mining law at a Thursday morning hearing, Sportsmen United for Sensible Mining is reiterating the need for common-sense updates to the General Mining Law of 1872, America’s most archaic natural resources legislation.
The House Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources is convening the legislative hearing to consider HR 699, the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2009. HR 699 is identical to a bill passed by the House last year in a 244-166 bipartisan vote. The bill’s supporters hope to expedite passage of HR 699 in the House and to carry that momentum on to the Senate, where similar reform efforts stalled last year.
“Reform of the 1872 Mining Law is long overdue,” said Tom St. Hilaire, vice president for campaign management for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. “Congress must act now to safeguard valuable habitat and uphold public-lands sporting opportunities by promoting common-sense revisions – including strengthened conservation measures, reasonable royalties on minerals taken from public lands, an abandoned mine cleanup fund that addresses wildlife impacts, discretion for public land managers and a prohibition of public-lands patenting.”
SUSM, an alliance of organizations and individual grassroots partners spearheaded by the National Wildlife Federation, the TRCP and Trout Unlimited, urges fundamental changes to the 1872 Mining Law to enable conservation of fish and wildlife resources and a future for America’s sporting heritage. The sportsmen’s coalition has developed policy recommendations for Congress as it deliberates reform of the 1872 law.
“Sportsmen appreciate the sound leadership of House Natural Resources Chairman Nick Rahall in advancing these much-needed reforms to hard-rock mining law,” said Jim Lyon, NWF senior vice president. “Rep. Rahall’s commitment to the responsible administration of our nation’s public lands – and his efforts to refocus the attention of Congress on this important issue – go a long way toward better management of fish and wildlife habitat and our shared natural resources.”
HR 699 would initiate the first-ever significant change to the 1872 Mining Law, which governs the extraction of hard-rock minerals such as gold, silver and uranium on Western public lands. Under HR 699, sales of public lands to mining corporations would end; national forest roadless areas, BLM wilderness study areas and other sensitive lands would be placed off limits to new mining claims; and royalties would be assessed, with two-thirds of those monies put in an abandoned mine reclamation fund to help restore fish and wildlife habitat.
“Fifty percent of the nation’s blue ribbon trout streams and 80 percent of the most important big-game habitats are found on public lands,” said Rob Masonis, vice president of Western conservation for TU. “It’s high time to bring this 137-year-old law into the 21st century – for the good of America’s public lands, the priceless fish and wildlife populations they support and the hunting and fishing traditions they sustain.”
Under the 1872 General Mining Law, more than 270 million acres of federal land are open to hard-rock mining, mostly in the Rocky Mountain West. Because the 1872 law has never been meaningfully reformed, many of America’s most treasured public lands are at risk, including important wildlife habitat and hunting areas, valuable fisheries, popular recreation sites, vital municipal water supplies and sensitive roadless areas.
Learn more about Sportsmen United for Sensible Mining
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