Vote slated Tuesday on first U.S. federal royalty on hardrock mining on public lands

The House Natural Resources Committee Tuesday will vote on amendments imposing a 4% gross royalty on all hardrock mining operations on public lands, permit the withdrawal of federal lands from exploration and mining.

RENO, NV -

A divided House Natural Resources Committee Thursday has agreed to impose the first federal royalties on hardrock mining on public lands.

The committee also voted to approve an amendment that gives Indian tribes the power to close off their lands to mining.

However, final amendment and adoption of H.R. 2262 was rescheduled for Tuesday as lawmakers hastily took a brief recess to return home to their districts to explain their vote concerning the failed override of President George W. Bush's veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

Some obvious deal-making had taken place behind the scenes prior to today's Resources Committee markup meeting as Rep. Nick Rahall, committee chairman, opened the meeting with a declaration that he would not impose federal royalties on current hardrock mining operations on public lands. Republican members of the committee dug in their heels, however, with challenges of how much of a royalty would actually be levied and where would the money go.

Meanwhile, Rahall also had an equally difficult time herding his fellow committee Democrats who successfully pushed for the imposition of 4% of gross revenue on existing mining operations.

After two decades of attempting to reform the 1872 Mining Law, Rahall, D-West Virginia, said he would insist that his current bill give the federal and state governments the ability to withdraw public lands from mining. He asserted his bill and its proposed amendments provide a "clear definition of where mining should not take place under any circumstances."

Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee Chairman Jim Costa, D-California, said he felt that the actual amount of royalties to be levied on mining operations "is a work in progress" as is how the revenue money should be spent. Ranking committee member Don Young, R-Alaska, declared that imposing an 8% gross revenue on a mining claim is "dead wrong."

Freshman Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nevada, introduced an amendment that would impose a 5% royalty on net income, rather than a gross revenue royalty. Rep. Bill Sali, R-Idaho, introduced another amendment attaching a sunset clause to a federal hardrock mining royalty.

Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Arizona, successfully won approval of an amendment giving Indian tribes the ability to reject mining projects on their lands, and to also petition to withdraw tribal lands from mining.

The committee was scheduled to resume its markup of H.R. 2262, which was anticipated to be voted out of the House Natural Resources Committee because western Republican lawmakers don't have the votes to stop its march to vote of the entire House. However, Costa declared, "We would like to have a bill at the end of the day that can be signed into law that isn't going to be subject to the cloud of litigation."

The U.S. Senate is far more skeptical on the future of Rahall's bill. Ranking Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee member Pete Domenici, R-New Mexico, has already initiated an effort to have the Senate draft its own Mining Law reform bill.

Meanwhile, über-powerful Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada opposes royalties on existing mining operations, according to his spokesman Jon Summers. He told the Associated Press that Reid is working with other senators on legislation "that provides greater certainty for those families and communities that depend on mining and that provides improved environmental safeguards."