From The Durango Herald (Edward Graham):
Legislative efforts to reform the 1872 mining law and establish a royalty fee and remediation fund similar to coal mining have stalled in Congress, with opposition from the mining industry.
On the three-month anniversary of the Gold King Mine spill, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., along with New Mexico Democrats Sens. Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall, introduced the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2015 to modernize the 1872 mining law.
Under the legislation, mining companies would be charged a royalty fee on new mines and a Hardrock Minerals Reclamation Fund would be established, similar to the coal mine fund. The senators estimated that the royalty fees would bring in nearly $100 million annually to help remediate abandoned mines.
In an interview with The Durango Herald, Bennet said the focus of the hard-rock mining reform bill is to level the playing field.
“It just doesn’t seem fair to me that you have to pay royalties for coal, oil and gas but you don’t have to pay royalties for mining,” Bennet said. “What this bill does is create a nominal royalty rate and a reclamation fee so that there’s money available to do the cleanup that needs to be done at these mines. And we have less momentum there, and we’ve got to find some way to get bipartisan support for that bill, but we’ll keep working on it.”
The legislation, along with a similar House bill, is stuck in committee. But earlier this week, the La Plata County commissioners sent a letter to Bennet and other congressional representatives voicing their support for reforms to the 1872 mining law.
Philip Clelland, a spokesman for Bennet, said senators sponsoring the legislation continue to advocate for reforms.
“Senator Bennet and the other bill sponsors are talking to Republicans about a possible path forward and potential modifications to the bill,” Clelland said. “The Gold King Mine spill was an unfortunate reminder of the seriousness of this issue, and we hope it spurs action on this and other bills. Coloradans shouldn’t have to live in fear that contaminants from these abandoned mines are in their water. There isn’t an easy path in Congress, but we’re committed to moving this bill forward.”
100 million is not nearly enough