Domenici Seeks Bipartisan Mining Law Reforms
Senator begins Process to Start Clean-Slate Reforms
September 27, 2007
12:57 PM
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Pete Domenici, ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, today called for a bipartisan approach to reforming the nation’s 135-year old mining law, saying that the time was right for a balanced, “clean-slate” approach to the issue.
At an Energy Committee oversight hearing on hardrock mining, Domenici announced that he had begun the process of reaching out to a bipartisan group of Senators in order to put together a coalition that will re-visit the Mining Law of 1872, with an emphasis on major issues like royalties, environmental concerns, and abandoned mines.
“The Mining Law of 1872 has stood for 135 years without significant alteration. Efforts to reform this law have a storied and, at times, contentious history. Throughout this period, however, there has been one constant: mining has remained of great importance to our nation and to my own home state of New Mexico,” Domenici said.
“Given how hard it is to find minerals in the first place, it is clear that reforming the Mining Law will be complex. I will seek to provide reforms that provide a fair return to taxpayers for use of federal resources, provide miners with stable conditions to attract investment, manage our mines in a way that will protect the environment, and ensure the clean-up of abandoned mines,” he continued.
Domenici said that he had already reached out to a number of other Senators from both parties to partner with him to reform mining laws. He called today’s hearings the first of several steps needed to forge bipartisan legislation and emphasized that a clean slate would be needed in order to make progress.
The Senator compared the current mineral production situation to other resources, such as oil and gas, because an increasing portion of minerals are now coming from overseas. In fact, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, Americans spent almost $177 billion on foreign materials in 2006, an increase of nearly 28 percent in a year.
However, Domenici cautioned that unlike oil and gas, there are no real alternatives to using minerals like aluminum, graphite and steel. For that reason, Domenici stated that mining law reforms must be balanced with an eye toward keeping U.S. mineral production viable.
“While there is a great deal of support for weaning ourselves off of fossil fuels, it is not so easy to do the same with minerals, and in fact it might be counterproductive. For instance, we need copper to produce batteries for hybrid cars, and platinum is central to our efforts to develop clean, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles,” Domenici said.
Currently, the federal government receives no royalties for mining that occurs on federal lands. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the value of hardrock mineral production from federal lands at $600 million in FY2005.
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