Murkowski calls for mining reform
July 14th, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: ROBERT DILLON (202)
224-6977
JULY 14, 2009 or ANNE
JOHNSON (202) 224-7875
MURKOWSKI CALLS FOR MINING REFORM
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today called for
modernization of the 137-year-old law governing mining on federal lands.
“The current mining law is woefully out of date,” Murkowski said. “We need
to overhaul the law to ensure that it strikes the right balance between
protecting the environment, obtaining a fair return for taxpayers,
creating jobs and maintaining a secure supply of American minerals.”
At a Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing Tuesday on two proposals
to reform the Mining Law, Murkowski, the panel’s top Republican, expressed
concern that the proposed language could hamper economic development by
drastically increasing fees and royalties, placing huge swaths of public
land off-limits to mineral production, and instituting a long list of new
regulations.
“If we get mining reform wrong, we risk trading our reliance on foreign
oil for a reliance on foreign minerals,” Murkowski said.
The United States currently imports 100 percent of the quartz crystal
needed for the photovoltaic panels used in solar power generation, 91
percent of the platinum for fuel cells, 100 percent of the indium for LED
lighting technologies, and 100 percent of the rare earth minerals for
advanced batteries.
Murkowski noted that the margin of error on mining law is very thin given
the potential for job creation and the long-term economic effects of
reform. The United States already attracts a mere 8 percent of global
mining development.
“Minerals are the building blocks of infrastructure, technology, defense
and industry,” Murkowski said. “They’re also essential to the new,
clean-energy technologies that this very committee has sought to advance.”
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For further information, please contact Robert Dillon at 202.224.6977
or
Robert_dillon@energy.senate.gov or Anne Johnson at 202.224.7875 or
anne_johnson@energy.senate.gov.
Visit our website at
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