(Washington D.C.)- U.S. Rep. Sander Levin (D-Royal Oak) made the following floor statement in support of the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act:

I rise in strong support of H.R. 2262, the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act.  Reform of this 135-year-old law is long overdue and I am proud to be a cosponsor of this needed legislation.

In 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the General Mining Law.  The intention of the law was to promote the settlement of the American West.  Under the 1872 law, mining companies do not pay any royalties for the publicly-owned “hardrock” minerals mined on federal lands.  Over the years, mining companies have been able to extract hundreds of billions of dollars in gold, silver, platinum, copper and uranium without paying royalties.

It is time to overhaul this archaic law.  Let me be clear that this bill does not affect privately-owned land, but rather federal lands that belong to all Americans.  The American people deserve a fair return for the minerals extracted from the lands they own.  By comparison, the coal, oil and gas companies already pay royalties for their operations on federal lands.  Why should hardrock mining be any different?  Virtually every other nation that allows mining on public lands imposes some form of royalty. 

Opponents of this bill claim that charging an eight percent royalty on new hardrock mines and setting some basic environmental standards will devastate the domestic mining industry and send mining jobs overseas.  I read in the paper this morning that the price of gold hit just hit a 27-year high of $800 an ounce.  Platinum is now selling for $1,447 an ounce.  The worldwide demand for copper is so high that thieves have taken to stealing phone lines in some areas so they can sell the copper at recycling yards.  Yet, in the face of these facts, opponents of the bill implausibly argue that the mining industry in this country will collapse if we don’t continue to give away publicly-owned minerals for free.  

I urge all my colleagues to join me in voting to bring this 19th Century mining law into the 21st Century.     

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