[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 66 (Tuesday, May 15, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H2155]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           SUSPENSION OF UNLAWFUL AND UNNECESSARY REGULATIONS

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, industries around this Nation continually 
are burdened by unfair and unnecessary regulations. However, last year 
the mining industry faced an additional and unnecessary burden, an 
unlawful regulation.
  Previously, Congress called for the National Academy of Sciences to 
study and assess the effectiveness of the existing 3809 regulations 
that affect the mining industry. That study, authorized by Congress, 
concluded that the existing laws were effective in protecting the 
environment. Yet the Clinton administration last year promulgated new 
3809 regulations in spite of the National Academy's findings and in 
direct violation of Federal law.

                              {time}  1415

  In fiscal year 2000, the Interior appropriations bill clearly 
prohibited the promulgation of any new 3809 rules except those ``which 
are not inconsistent with the National Academy of Science studies.''
  Thankfully, President Bush realized the error of President Clinton's 
ways, and now we have only to roll back the unnecessary and unlawful 
3809 regulations proposed by the previous administration, which do not 
protect the environment or the American people.

                          ____________________