[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 17977]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                       STOP THE ANTI-MINING GREED

  (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, well, here we go again. The left-leaning, 
anti-mining zealots want a Federal tax on all mining operations on an 
estimated, hypothetical, or proposed value of a mine. Moreover, the 
proposed values that are given to these mines are nothing but sheer 
guesses that always grossly overexaggerate the worth of the mineral 
deposit.
  For example, some of these mining opponents cite the Stillwater Mine 
in Montana as a taxpayer giveaway of $38 billion. Grossly exaggerated, 
Mr. Speaker. $38 billion could fund a hostile takeover of the Ford 
Motor Company. This amount of money could purchase the entire metal 
mining industry in the United States and Canada.
  Some claim that patents to Barrick Gold Mine have a value of $10 
billion. Keep in mind that the supposed 10 billion is wrapped up in a 
small acreage of desert rock. Using their irrational logic, one could 
say that the raw land beneath the Washington Post printing plant would 
be worth several billion dollars itself.
  In 1556 Georgious Agricola stated the miners should start mining 
operations in a district only where it is friendly. This quote still 
holds true today. Stop the anti-mining greed.

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