[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 11928]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   NATIONAL STRATEGIC AND CRITICAL MINERALS PROTECTION ACT, H.R. 4402

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. BETTY McCOLLUM

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 23, 2012

  Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 4402, 
the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Protection Act. This bill 
is yet another Republican giveaway to the mining industry.
  H.R. 4402 elevates the narrow special interest of the mining industry 
above the interests of the American public. For example, this bill 
gives mining on public lands priority over all other uses--replacing 
current law that requires public lands to be managed for multiple uses. 
The White House warns this provision ``has the potential to threaten 
hunting, fishing, recreation and other activities which create jobs and 
sustain local economies across the country.''
  Moreover, H.R. 4402 exempts hardrock mining operations from key 
provisions of the nation's most important environmental laws, including 
the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. These 
weakened environmental safeguards would govern mining operations in 
every region because H.R. 4402 deceptively defines ``strategic and 
critical minerals'' so broadly as to include sand and gravel. This 
means families and businesses all across the country would have less 
ability to resist new mining operations that threaten to pollute their 
community's air and water.
  Congressman Chip Cravaack, my Minnesota colleague, offered an 
amendment to H.R. 4402 that would apply these weakened permitting and 
environmental review provisions to mining proposals that are already in 
the approval process. This amendment would allow massive sulfide-mining 
proposals in Northern Minnesota to escape necessary public scrutiny and 
thorough environmental analysis. The foreign-owned mining corporations 
advancing these proposals are motivated by short-term profit, not the 
long-term risks to the people and land of our state. Sulfide mining has 
never occurred in our state before but has produced a devastating 
legacy of toxic pollution elsewhere in the country. Minnesotans need 
and deserve strong federal safeguards to protect the health of our 
families and communities. The Cravaack amendment to fast-track sulfide 
mining in Minnesota threatens the environmental integrity of our 
state's greatest natural treasures, including the Boundary Waters Canoe 
Area, Lake Superior and the Mississippi River.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in opposing H.R. 4402 in order to 
safeguard the health of America's children, families, and communities.

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