Jay Inslee: Washington's 1st Congressional District

Issues

Environment

Inslee Speaks Out Against Plan to Allow Increased Mining Pollution

June 21, 2001

U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee joined mining reform advocates at a press conference on Wednesday, May 9, 2001 to call on President Bush not to roll back environmental and taxpayer protections on the hardrock mining industry.Twenty citizens from around the West whose lives would be affected by the rollback in safeguards also attended.

Said Inslee, "The Bush Administration should reconsider its proposal to revoke common-sense pollution protections. It follows reason that mining companies should pay to clean up their own waste sites, not taxpayers. And no American citizen should have to suffer from cyanide and arsenic pollution in our rivers and streams."

Interior Secretary Gale Norton has proposed revoking current mining regulations, and returning to the old mining rules that allowed mining companies to avoid responsibility for pollution they caused. The current "3809 rules" were enacted by the Clinton administration after nearly four years of public comments.

Inslee's amendment to protect taxpayers from subsidizing the mining industry passed the House of Representatives in 1999. Inslee's bill was endorsed by Taxpayers for Common Sense, as well as the League of Conservation Voters and the Mineral Policy Institute.