Posted on 11/03/2007 9:00:40 AM PDT by george76
Measure passed in U.S. House aims to protect environment.
A measure that would amend the General Mining Law of 1872 to establish environmental protections and eliminate land patenting passed the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday.
Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo, voted with the 244-166 majority and hailed the legislation for its environmental protections and reclamation requirements on hard-rock mining.
“I have heard from constituents in Crested Butte, the Summitville area, and throughout Colorado who want to protect our precious water resources,” said Salazar, whose 3rd Congressional District includes most of the Western Slope. “After 135 years, I am glad the House has finally decided to act.”
President Bush, however, has said he will veto the measure if it reaches his desk.
Sporting associations including Sportsmen United for Sensible Mining, the National Wildlife Federation, Trout Unlimited and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, welcomed the vote.
The National Mining Association opposed the measure, saying it would impose punitive taxes on industry and drive jobs out of the country.
One Colorado-specific feature of the bill would be the codification of the Clinton administration roadless rule, Colorado Mining Association President Stuart Sanderson said.
The provision would “shut down coal mining in Colorado,” ...
(Excerpt) Read more at gjsentinel.com ...
The Great Divide is what was Federal land and what was already private land when the Mining Law first passed. Most of the land west of the Mississippi is Federal or possibly other Gov’t land and the private people are there by permission, temporarily.
We use to have dozens of private lumber yards and small logging operations. They are almost all gone.
There used to be many family ranchers grazing their cattle and herders pushing their sheep in the forests and fields. Now this is also nearly gone with the feed lots expanding, adding drugs and growth hormones to our feed supply...
Same for tiehacks, hunters, most recreational uses...
Used to be a cheap way to get a nice, large vacation lot on, in or near a National Forest. Many a dirt mine hold a vacation cabin.
DOn’t know if it good or bad - it just is, right now.
Uh, Anaconda Copper essentially ceased to esist when ARCO boiught it out in 1977. Now, BP, ARCO’s owner, likely wishes they never heard the name Anaconda seeing as how big an environmental headache the properties are for them. I am not sure just how Anaconda Gold (Canadian) fits in.
Those are generic names. What company would call itself Rio Tinto except as a cosmic joke on Wyoming?
Bump
Damn. I had no idea that was in the works.
I would be interesting in hearing you elaborate on this.
Thanks!
Yes...I would be surprised if Harry Reid lets this slip through.
I have no commercial interest, but have done recreational prospecting in the past, and don’t want to see that get shut down. Plus, we need to protect our extractive industries, because without them, we have no raw materials to use for making stuff.
What cannot be grown must be mined.
I thought AZ was number one in copper mining. No?
It's probably some UN thing.
My husband worked with Magma back in the 90s. All the mines closed when the ‘toon was in office. He arbitrarily shut down mining in Utah with his fake Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. I wonder if the other mining outfits saw the writing on the wall...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/724170/posts
Veto bait.
Perhaps I was thinking that Michigan was ranked #1 in copper mining some time in the past?
I know there is a lot of copper in the upper peninsula.
I had read that they have found chunks of pure copper so large they can’t be moved or even cut into chunks they could move.
If I can find that story I’ll post it.
That’s cool! Some of the mines in AZ were so played out that they were considering reclaiming copper from the tailings. More copper in MI would be a great thing.
I understand from friends that they are trying to develop Superior once again and I wish them all the luck in the world. However, I have little hope for any natural resource industry in the USA just now.
A few years ago a guy found a huge chunk of pure copper in lake Superior just off shore. The state wouldn’t give him a permit to salvage it. They said it should just lay on the bottom of the lake!
After about 10 years they gave a museum a permit to move it but the state still owns it.
It weighed 34,000 #!
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