New measure targets hard-rock mining

WASHINGTON — A new bid to update the federal law that has governed mining on public lands for the past 135 years was launched Thursday by a lawmaker who said he wants to strengthen environmental protections and taxpayer benefits from the extraction of gold, silver and other “hard rock” minerals.

Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., introduced legislation to overhaul the 1872 Mining Law that has brought Nevada its standing as the No. 1 gold state and the leader among Western states in terms of public land in mining production.

But the law enacted as the nation sought to promote settlements in the West requires little in the way of environmental safeguards for land and water, Rahall said. It tilts economic benefits to multinational companies that are offered land at prices that are fractions of market value and without reimbursing taxpayers for the value of the precious and strategic metals that lie underground, he said.

“It is time, far past the time, for responsible reform of the Jurassic Park of all federal laws,” Rahall said during a press conference on Capitol Hill. “The hard-rock mining industry is a far cry from the lone prospector with pick ax of the 19th century.”

The new bill revives what once was a major environmental debate in Congress. The 1872 Mining Law was a perennial target of reformers during the 1980s and early 1990s, but it fell off the radar once Republicans gained control of Congress in 1995.

Election gains last fall put Democrats back in control, propelling Rahall into the chairmanship of the House Natural Resources Committee from where he plans to renew his push.

Introduction of a mining bill now also adds another issue to the plate of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Reid long has been a defender of mining, the No. 2 industry in Nevada.

In bruising debates early in his Senate career, Reid successfully diverted most efforts to change the mining law in ways he charged would harm the industry.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Reid said the mining industry recognizes a need for changes and that debate should be held on a range of economic, environmental and regulatory issues affecting miners.

He said Rahall, who is from a coal-mining state, used to be “difficult to work with” on hard-rock mining. But mining has changed over the years, he said, including consolidations in the industry and desires by companies for stability and certainty in obtaining permits from the Bureau of Land Management.

Reid said he and Rahall met last week and now “he will be easy to work with.”

But Reid said he did not believe a mining bill would be brought to the Senate anytime soon.

“We have a lot of things to do,” he said. “Not this year,” but perhaps in 2008.

Rahall said his bill would give federal land managers more power to deny mining applications. It would mandate environmental guidelines to protect land, air, fish, wildlife, surface water and groundwater from mining pollutants.

The bill would also require mining companies to pay the government an 8 percent royalty fee on the value of extracted minerals. That money would go toward cleaning up abandoned mines.

Coal, oil and gas companies already pay a royalty for resources they mine on public land, he said.

Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., chairman of the subcommittee on energy and mineral resources, said he plans to hold hearings on the bill during this year’s second half.

Rahall’s proposed changes would close environmental gaps in the 1872 law, said John Leshy, who advocated mining reform as U.S. Department of Interior solicitor during the Clinton administration.

Current law leaves nearby communities to pay for cleanup after mines are closed down, Leshy said during a conference call organized by the Pew Campaign for Responsible Mining, a newly launched reform group.

“Mining is a pretty dirty business and it has to be carefully controlled or you can get environmental disasters,” said Leshy, who teaches law at the University of California-Hastings.

The National Mining Association has pledged to work with Congress for an update of the mining law but has not yet elaborated details of what it would find acceptable, spokesman Luke Popovich said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.