[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 123 (Tuesday, September 21, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H8444-H8445]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE MINING INDUSTRY IS SUFFERING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Schaffer) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCHAFFER. Mr. Speaker, America's mining industry is suffering. 
The obvious culprits are predictable in a market economy. They include 
rising costs, declining profits, and increasing competition. However, 
there is one more obstruction that is not predictable, surmountable, or 
logical. That is, the United States Department of the Interior.
  Even though mining is a basic national economic activity supplying 
strategic metal and minerals essential to agriculture, construction, 
and manufacturing, it may be dealt a fatal blow by the agenda of a 
hostile Washington bureaucracy. Instead of moving to bolster the mining 
industry, the Department of the Interior is hastening mining's demise.
  Several recent opinions by the Department of the Interior's Solicitor 
herald a new era of bureaucratic bullying by unelected, unaccountable 
Federal administrators.
  The first, unilateral, untouchable decision by Solicitor Leshy 
reinterprets the 1916 Organic Act, allowing the National Park Service 
to block mining activity if it can prove waters flowing into the park 
will be impacted. This will have the immediate effect of ending all 
prospecting for lead in southwest Missouri, which accounts for 85 
percent of all U.S. lead production.
  The second, more far-reaching and devastating Solicitor opinion 
reinterprets the Magna Carta mining law, the 1872 Mining Act. In this 
instance, the Solicitor reversed over 125 years of history and 
precedent with the stroke of a pen, declaring the 1872 Mining Law 
restricts the number of 5-acre millsites to one per lode claim. 
Previously, the 1872 law allowed as many five-acre millsites as 
necessary for the safe and practical operation of a mine. If left 
unchanged, this opinion will effectively end mine operation and public 
land exploration nationwide.
  Although the decision is currently blocked by legislative action, 
there is no guarantee that our prohibition will remain in place.
  Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, matters get worse. The Bureau of Land 
Management, BLM, another Interior Department agency, has issued new 
hardrock mining regulations, in direct violation of congressional 
intent.
  The BLM was directed by Congress to postpone new directives until a 
report by the National Academy of Sciences was issued regarding the 
need to revise 43 CFR, subpart 3809, concerning hardrock mining 
operations. Of course, the BLM pushed forward, lacking demonstrable 
need, with proposed regulations that will go into effect November 1 of 
this year.
  Incorporating flawed science and flouting the will of Congress, these 
regulations may end any chance for mining to exist in America.
  While Congress is considering a stay on this blatant power grab, we 
should take a moment to consider the commonsense recommendations the 
General Assembly of the State of Colorado has expressed in Colorado's 
House Joint Resolution 99-1023, sponsored by State Representative Carl 
Miller and State Senators Ken Chlouber and Doug Lamborn.
  I submit for the Record the official position of the State of 
Colorado regarding BLM's proposed revisions to hardrock mining 
regulations.
  Furthermore, I urge my colleagues to act favorably upon the 
instruction offered by the great State of Colorado.
  House Joint Resolution 99-1023 is as follows:

                     House Joint Resolution 99-1023

       Whereas, The mining industry is vital to the economy of 
     Colorado, with direct and indirect contributions to the 
     state's economy that exceed $7.7 billion annually; and
       Whereas, Hardrock miners are the highest paid industrial 
     workers in Colorado, earning average annual wages of 
     approximately $60,000; and
       Whereas, The producers of gold, silver, lead, zinc, 
     molybdenum, gypsum, and other minerals located under the 
     general mining laws provide a source of high paying jobs in 
     rural areas of Colorado whose economies are highly dependent 
     upon resource extraction; and
       Whereas, Lower mineral commodity prices and other economic 
     factors continue to challenge this industry making it 
     important that state and local governments fashion regulatory 
     programs that are cost effective and yet sufficient to 
     regulate the environmental impacts of hardrock mining 
     activities on public and private lands; and
       Whereas, The ``Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 
     1976'' requires that mineral activities on federal lands 
     protect the environment and prohibits any mining activity 
     that would result in unnecessary and undue degradation of 
     these areas; and
       Whereas, The Bureau of Land Management within the United 
     States Department of the Interior implements the mandate of 
     federal law through regulations codified at 43 C.F.R. subpart 
     3809, and these laws and regulations are among the many laws 
     that require mineral producers to protect air, water, 
     cultural,

[[Page H8445]]

     historic, fish, wildlife, and other resources; and
       Whereas, The division of minerals and geology in the 
     Colorado department of natural resources, though a 
     cooperative agreement with the Bureau of Land Management, is 
     the lead agency responsible for regulating mining activity on 
     both public and private lands; and
       Whereas, Colorado effectively regulates mining operations 
     pursuant to the ``Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Act'', part 
     1 of article 32 of title 34, Colorado Revised Statutes, that 
     sets forth very comprehensive permitting, bonding, 
     environmental management, monitoring, and reclamation 
     requirements for hardrock mining activities on both public 
     and private lands; and
       Whereas, The Colorado General Assembly strengthened this 
     law in 1993 requiring that mining operators using certain 
     toxic chemicals in mineral extraction meet more stringent 
     standards before receiving authorization to mine; and
       Whereas, The United States Department of the Interior, 
     through the Bureau of Land Management, has announced its 
     intention to propose revisions to 43 C.F.R. subpart 3809, 
     that would preempt, conflict with, and duplicate the very 
     effective state program now in place, and replace, it with a 
     plenary federal program that may well lessen the 
     environmental protections available under state law; and
       Whereas, In 1998 the United States Congress enacted 
     legislation directing the National Academy of Sciences to 
     perform a study of the adequacy of state and federal laws 
     governing hardrock mining on public lands and submit its 
     findings and recommendations before the Department of the 
     Interior's Bureau of Land Management may finalize changes to 
     regulations under 43 C.F.R. 3809; and
       Whereas, Notwithstanding the express mandate of Congress, 
     the Bureau of Land Management proposed revisions to the 
     regulations promulgated under 43 C.F.R. subpart 3809, in 
     February, 1999, before the National Academy of Sciences has 
     concluded, much less submitted, its study and 
     recommendations, and the Bureau of Land Management has failed 
     to consider the National Academy of Sciences' findings or 
     process in fashioning the various regulatory revisions 
     currently awaiting public comment; and
       Whereas, Any changes to the regulations promulgated under 
     43 C.F.R. subpart 3809 must be based upon sound science and 
     compelling policy reasons, and must take into account the 
     findings and recommendations of the National Academy of 
     Sciences' study before the Bureau of Land Management submits 
     its proposal for public comment, yet the comment period on 
     the proposed rules is set to expire on May 10, 1999, before 
     the National Academy of Sciences completes its study of 
     existing laws; now, therefore,
       Be it Resolved by the House of Representatives of the 
     Sixty-second General Assembly of the State of Colorado, the 
     Senate concurring herein:
       1. That the General Assembly calls upon the United States 
     Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management 
     to withdraw the current proposal to amend the federal 
     regulations, 43 C.F.R. subpart 3809 and published at 64 F.R. 
     6422 on February 9, 1999, governing hardrock mining activity.
       2. That the General Assembly calls upon the Bureau of Land 
     Management to await completion of the study currently 
     underway by the National Academy of Sciences of the adequacy 
     of hardrock mining regulations, which must be completed prior 
     to July 31, 1999, and that the Bureau of Land Management 
     refrain from publishing any further changes to the existing 
     rules before it has fully considered the results of the 
     study.
       3. That the General Assembly calls upon the Bureau of Land 
     Management, if it decides that further revisions to 43 C.F.R. 
     subpart 3809 are necessary, to fully explain in the preamble 
     to the new regulations how it fashioned its proposals in 
     response to the anticipated findings and conclusions of the 
     National Academy of Sciences' study and give the public at 
     least 90 days to comment on the proposed changes.
       4. That the General Assembly opposes changes to 43 C.F.R. 
     subpart 3809 that would preempt the existing Colorado 
     regulatory program or that would duplicate permitting and 
     other requirements.
       5. That the General Assembly calls upon the United States 
     Department of the Interior to consider that the mining 
     industry is one of the most heavily regulated industries in 
     the United States and that unreasonable delays in obtaining 
     permits are a significant disincentive to the location of new 
     mines or expansion of existing mines in the United States.
       6. That the General Assembly opposes the concept developed 
     as a result of 43 C.F.R. subpart 3809 of using the ``Most 
     Appropriate Technology and Practices'' which allows the 
     Bureau of Land Management to dictate what type of equipment 
     and technologies are employed by mining operators. Using the 
     ``Most Appropriate Technology and Practices'' would replace 
     the existing regulatory scheme that requires mining operators 
     to meet performance standards, but allows the individual 
     operators to decide how the individual operator will meet 
     environmental standards.
       7. That the General Assembly calls upon the Bureau of Land 
     Management to consider the economic impact on mining and the 
     communities dependent upon mining in Colorado and other 
     states.
       8. That the Bureau of Land Management specifically consider 
     the conclusions in the Fraser Report that found that Colorado 
     and many other states were ranked low in investment 
     attractiveness due, in part, to the burden that government 
     regulation imposes on the industry. Colorado received a score 
     of only 24 out of a possible 100 in the Fraser Report.
       9. That the General Assembly calls upon the Congress of the 
     United States to impose a moratorium on any appropriations 
     for the continuation or completion of the current rulemaking 
     until the Department of the Interior withdraws the current 
     rulemaking and agrees to fully consider the findings and 
     recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences' study.
       Be it further resolved, That a copy of this resolution be 
     transmitted to the Speaker of the United States House of 
     Representatives, the Majority Leader of the United States 
     Senate, the President of the United States, the Vice-
     president of the United States, the Secretary of the United 
     States Department of the Interior, the Director of the Bureau 
     of Land Management, and each member of the Colorado 
     Congressional delegation.

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