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 ...
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From what I understand, Hairy Reid won’t let this bill see the light of day in the Senate. He is, of course, the son of a gold miner and Nevada the biggest mining state in the country.
I never thought I’d have anything remotely good to say about Reid, but if he foils this bill, I’ll tip my hat to him......for about 5 seconds.
Tip of hat, or “flash of moon” ??
WHERE WOULD YOU BE WITHOUT MINING?
Without the hundreds of thousands of material benefits that come from the mining industry your world would be completely different from the way you now live.
Regardless of your age, eliminating the minerals and coal that are mined, processed, smelted or refined by the mining industry would mean that you would no longer be able to enjoy television, radio, or music from a CD…in fact anything that requires electricity. And children’s toys would certainly be much different without mining.
If you think about all the things that you use every day, you will discover for yourself the almost endless uses of metals and plastics and paper, all of which depend upon mining for their existence.
http://www.utahmining.org/brochure.htm
WVA mine production is twice the value of Nevada with almost twice as many mines.
Sorry about that, I guess WVA does mine more than Nevada. I was thinking more along the lines of gold, copper, etc. Metal mining, that is.
They could use the gold more in WVA. : )
These damned democrats will be the death of us all
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Liberals in Crested Butte think that they would love this.
We need mining. However like the Ranch lands acts that basically give away federal lands to some ranchers while others pay market rates, the mining act as I understand it allows mining companies exploiting federal lands to all but avoid paying any royalties on the minerals they extract. They would have to pay if mining on private land, so they should pay into the common treasury the royalties for minerals mined on public land.
Hillary would sign this.
I know she would.
Copper prices are also at record highs
In 2004 Nevada employed 11,318 in mining. As a employment comparison:
West Virginia - 27,108
Kentucky - 24,300
Virginia - 12,711
Pennsylvania - 20,521
Texas - 20,330
California - 12,840
Arizona - 11,368
2004 STATE MINING STATISTICS
http://www.nma.org/statistics/state_statistics_2004.asp#
If the liberals and the feds close all the public lands to grazing, then your food prices would go way up and your food would increasingly come from feed lots full of drugs and growth hormones.
No more ‘free range’ grass eating cattle ?
Do not believe the line that the feds give away public lands to ranchers or miners. The ranchers and miners pay cash money plus have to maintain the land to the feds standards.
Closing public lands will increase our energy costs when coal mines are closed...
Is coal mining in Kentucky all on private land ?
Shutting down public lands would drive the prices way up.
“I was thinking more along the lines of gold, copper, etc. Metal mining, that is.”
I would think Michigan beats Nevada in copper mining.
Iron ore is also about unlimited in Michigan.
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