Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation that will help address a troublesome byproduct of our Nation's mining history: abandoned mines. The 1872 Mining Law created national standards to…
Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation that will help address a troublesome byproduct of our Nation's mining history: abandoned mines.
The 1872 Mining Law created national standards to regulate gold and silver mining operations on Federal lands. Since then, hundreds of thousands of gold and silver mines have been abandoned.
There are roughly 500,000 abandoned mines across the U.S., and nearly 47,000 abandoned mines in my home State of California.
According to the California Department of Conservation, all but two of California's 58 counties have abandoned mines; and close to 70 percent of California's abandoned mines are located in the ``Mother Lode'' area in the Northern Sierra or San Bernardino, Inyo and Kern Counties in the southeastern part of the State.
Because the 1872 Mining Law is so outdated, we have been unable to adequately clean up and remediate these abandoned mines.
The need for action is great.
The bill that I am introducing today, is not intended to be a comprehensive hardrock mining reform bill, but it is an important piece of the reform that is needed in hardrock mining.
The Abandoned Mine Reclamation Act of 2008, will reform the 1872 Mining Law by: establishing fees to support abandoned mine cleanup; establishing a royalty payment system; and creating an Abandoned Mine Cleanup Fund.
Unlike the coal industry, the metal mining industry does not pay to clean up its legacy of abandoned mines, making lack of funding the primary obstacle to abandoned hardrock mine cleanup.
This legislation would help fund the cleanup of abandoned mines by placing an Abandoned Mine Reclamation fee on all hardrock minerals, using the underground coal industry fee program as a model.
Here is why--the condition of abandoned coal mines has greatly improved since the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 established a fee to finance restoration of land abandoned or inadequately restored by coal mining companies.
This fund has been able to raise billions of dollars for coal mine reclamation--and I believe that a similar program could be part of the solution to the hardrock abandoned mine cleanup.
This legislation also establishes a royalty on Hardrock Mining Claims.
Companies that mine for gold and silver on Federal lands are not currently required to pay any royalties to the Federal Government--even though we are experiencing near record high gold prices, around $900 an ounce.
These companies should be required to pay their fair share.
The Abandoned Mine Reclamation Act establishes an 8 percent royalty on new mining operations located on Federal lands, and a 4 percent royalty for existing operations.
These royalties are at the same level as the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act, H.R. 2262, which was passed by the House late last year.
The legislation I am introducing today also creates an Abandoned Mine Fund.
In these times of budget deficits, it's clear that we will not be able to simply appropriate the funds necessary to clean up the hundreds of thousands of abandoned hard rock mines.
So, this legislation will create an abandoned mine cleanup fund to ensure that we have a lasting source of funding for this critical cleanup effort.
Specifically, the fund will direct the royalties, as well as other payments collected from mining operations, and dedicate them to the cleanup of abandoned hardrock mines.
Now I would like to take a moment to talk more about why abandoned mines are so problematic.
First, members of the public are in danger of getting seriously hurt or killed by falling down old mine shafts.
In the past 2 years, eight accidents at abandoned mine sites were reported in California. These accidents resulted in four fatalities and seven others were injured and/or required rescuing.
But the even greater threat from abandoned mines comes from the danger of groundwater pollution.
Environmental impact studies have shown that important watersheds are being polluted by high levels of mercury or increased sedimentation.
This in turn exposes people who drink this water to harmful minerals like mercury, chromium and asbestos and the fish who swim in streams fed by these waters are likewise contaminated.
The Bureau of Land Management reports that abandoned mines have contaminated 17 major watersheds in California, which supply water for millions of people and provide habitat for important species like salmon and other fish that are caught and consumed by the public.
So, the threat to public health is critical.
Mining has played in California's history. The discovery of gold at Sutter Mill near Placerville, California in 1848 was a defining moment for California and the U.S.
It is fair to say that without mining and the Gold Rush, California and the entire country would be a far different place than it is today.
The great history of mining in California, however, is tarnished by the legacy of tens of thousands of abandoned mines. In particular, abandoned mine sites on Federal lands.
Let me illustrate a few examples of abandoned mine sites located on Federal land in California.
These sites are causing serious public safety and environmental problems: Rand Historic Mining Complex located on BLM land in eastern Kern County and northwestern San Bernardino County.
This area includes the Kelly Silver Mine and the Yellow Aster Gold Mine near the communities of Johannesburg, Randsburg, and Red Mountain.
The problem is this: The sites contain extensive arsenic-bearing mine waste and numerous open mine shafts that could cause safety hazards.
The Pond Gold Mine Site located in Placer County on BLM land.
This mine site consists of an extensive network of sluice tunnels and a large waste rock pile.
Here's the problem: The Pond Mine has been determined to be a source of mercury to Pond Creek and the Middle Fork of the American River.
The Golinsky Mine located on Forest Service land located in Shasta County.
The Golinsky mine is an abandoned copper mine that is releasing acid mine drainage into Shasta Lake.
The responsible party has been identified, but has declared bankruptcy. This has forced the Forest Service to spend more than $2.2 million dollars investigating and mitigating the environmental problems while they try to recoup the costs.
There are numerous abandoned mine sites that may not yet have been discovered all across California.
One place where we expect the problem to grow is in Joshua Tree National Park.
Joshua Tree has numerous former mine sites that contain a series of shafts near trails and roads. These mine shafts vary in size and the depth ranges from 20 to 200 feet deep--and are extremely dangerous, potentially causing people to fall into them.
So, these abandoned mines are a serious problem throughout the State. We need to take action soon to clean them up.
The problems caused by abandoned mines are not going away--and with each passing day, the health danger will continue to rise.
It is important to our children and grandchildren that we start the process of cleaning up the abandoned mines that were left to us. But we cannot do it without a substantial and reliable source of funding.
Here is the key: this legislation doesn't reinvent the wheel. It implements solutions that have been working for a similar problem. It uses many of the ideas that have helped the coal industry to raise over seven billion dollars for abandoned mines.
It is time to expect the same from the hardrock mining industry.
Though this legislation is a significant step forward for the funding of abandoned mines, I know that there is much more mining reform to be done.
I look forward to working with my colleagues to ensure that the 1872 Mining Law is reformed--so that 21st Century mining regulations will be applied to 21st Century mining operations.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.
