NOELLE STRAUB Star-Tribune Washington bureau | Posted: Wednesday, October 24, 2007 12:00 am
WASHINGTON - Companies that take gold, uranium and other minerals from federal lands would have to pay up to an 8 percent royalty under an update to the 1872 hard-rock mining law approved Tuesday by a key House committee.
The bill has the support of a coalition of taxpayer groups, conservationists and sportsmen. The mining industry opposes it.
After several hearings earlier this year and two days of debate on amendments, the House Natural Resources Committee passed the bill 23-15. It now heads to the full House.
The bill, championed by Resources Chairman Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., would charge an 8 percent gross income royalty on new mineral production and a 4 percent gross income royalty on existing mining operations. That includes gold, silver, copper and uranium. Oil, gas and coal companies already pay royalties for developing on federal lands.
The royalty would be used for cleanup of abandoned mines.
Under the 1872 law, federal land can be sold for $2.50 or $5 an acre. Congress for more than a decade has annually approved a moratorium on such sales, and the bill would permanently end them.
The bill also identifies categories of federal lands off-limits to mining. It would establish an environmental standard for mining on federal land and require companies to have an operations plan, a reclamation plan and evidence of financial assurances to carry them out.
The committee approved an amendment that would prevent any mines near national parks if they would "impair the resources" of a park. Opponents called that provision overly broad and said it would invite lawsuits to prevent mines that affect even the noise level or views of a park.
The panel also approved an amendment that would grant American Indian tribes along with states and counties the power to submit petitions against new mining claims on critical lands.
Republicans offered failed amendments that would strike the effective date of the act, waive or adjust the royalty provision for certain minerals, and void the entire bill if the U.S. no longer has the world's top economy.
Rahall has tried to pass mining legislation since the late 1980s. The House and Senate were in negotiations over a bill in 1994 when Congress adjourned without passing it.
The bill is expected to be a harder sell in the Senate. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., the son of a gold miner and an industry supporter, has said he will produce his own bill.
National Mining Association President and CEO Kraig R. Naasz issued a statement saying the bill is "disappointing to those of us concerned about the nation's increasing reliance on imported minerals and public policy impediments to a sustainable U.S. mining industry."
Naasz said the bill would levy the highest royalty in the world on the mining industry, which would damage its prospects for growth.