House Passes Gibbons' Bad Mining Law

Jim Gibbons giveth and Jim Gibbons taketh away.

I reported yesterday that Congressman Jim Gibbons showed a little backbone and voted against the bad appropriations bill for the Departments of Health, Education, and Labor. The bill was bad because it made heavy cuts to education and health care.

For this reason I hereby award Gib-blossom 1 vertebra on the Jim Gibbons Backbone Meter (patent pending).**

Nonetheless, Gibguy did something very very bad today. His Mining Reforms, which everyone but Gibbons, Richard Pombo, and 215 other delusional Republicans think is a very bad idea, narrowly passed the House. It was close, though. 14 Republicans deserted and no Democrat voted for it.

It will be interesting to see what happens to the Mining Reforms when the  House and Senate reconcile their respective versions of the bill. Although the Senate version doesn't have the nutty Gibbons stuff in it, with Reid in the back pocket of Big Mining, the Great Real Estate Giveaway of 2005 may become a reality.

Good old Nick Rahall, the ranking member of Pombo's House Resource Committee, was, to say the least, unhappy:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In the wee hours this morning, the House of Representatives approved a budget bill that under the guise of reforming the Mining Law of 1872, still on the books today, would transform the law into a sweeping federal land sales program with no nexus to mining, charged U.S. Rep. Nick J. Rahall (D-WV).

     "The American people are getting tired of the Republican-led Congress acting like vampires in the stealth of the night, passing legislation that is not in the best interest of the Nation, without meaningful debate and public participation. The hardrock mining provision in the budget reconciliation bill is one of the many ways the Republican leadership acts on behalf of special interests instead of in the best interest of the taxpayer,"said Rahall, the Ranking Member on the House Resources Committee which has jurisdiction over federal lands.

     These provisions eliminate the existing moratorium on the patenting – the sale – of mining claims and dissociate the act of staking and maintaining a mining claim on western federal lands from having to make a showing that a valuable mineral deposit actually exists. Under the subterfuge of a ‘mining law’ vast areas of federal lands would be put on the sales block for either $1,000 an acre or the fair market value of the surface estate, regardless of whether there are billions of dollars worth of underlying valuable hardrock minerals such as gold and silver.

     "With a wink and a nod, this budget proposal sells not just the minerals under these federal lands, but the pristine lands that just happen to be located near high-priced zip codes," stated Rahall.

     These land sales could take place in National Forests, Wilderness Study Areas and Areas of Critical Environmental Concern. Further, while the legislation purports to exempt National Parks, it does nothing to stop the sale of more than 18,000 acres in park units already claimed for mining.

     "We are literally looking at the prospect of McDonalds, Wal-Marts, condos, or any other type of commercial or private developments springing up smack dab within some of America’s most cherished units of the National Park System," stated Rahall.

     He continued, "These provisions not only turn over many of our most cherished natural resource heritage sites to development, but they will also rob the public of recreational activities and tourism. They will be met with ‘no trespassing signs’ on lands they have traditionally been used for hunting, fishing and other recreational pursuits."

     Since 1994, through Rahall’s efforts and with strong bipartisan support, Congress has placed an annual moratorium on the patenting of mining claims on federal lands. To prohibit the continued giveaway of public lands while requiring industry to comply with some basic reclamation standards, Rahall, last month, introduced the "Federal Mineral Development and Land Protection Equity Act of 2005". Since 1987, when Rahall chaired the Energy and Minerals Subcommittee, he has worked to rewrite this antiquated law, introducing comprehensive reform bills in each successive Congress.

     The Senate did not include a similar provision in its version of the budget bill, and Rahall will now focus his efforts on ensuring that it is not included in the final version worked out by both bodies.

Good luck, Nick. But watch out. Big Mining has powerful friends in the Senate.
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