Mining project veto power will top U.S. House hardrock mining agenda

Another tough mining law reform bill is probably a fait accompli in the U.S. House next year.

RENO, NV - 

Local mining attorney Jim Butler of Parsons Behle & Latimer says three top hardrock mining priorities for Congress in the year ahead will include a right for federal agencies to say "no" to mining projects, increased claim fees, and the grandfathering of a federal royalty for mining on public lands.

In a speech to the Northwest Mining Association Convention here, Butler asserted that it is important for the domestic mining industry to tie its importance to the return of the U.S. economy.

Butler believes that another Mining Law reform bill introduced by House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall of West Virginia will easily pass the House next year. The last Rahall mining law reform bill adopted by the House in 2008 has four or five methods to veto mine projects, he added.

Even if a mining project meets all environmental standards and federal and state regulatory requirements, Butler said the House will demand that agencies have the right to veto that project. Nils Johnson, director of legislative and regulatory affairs for Holland & Hart, told the mining professionals attending the panel session that those calling for the veto power over mining permits are actually "people who don't want mining in the United States."

Meanwhile, Butler urged his audience to emphasize to lawmakers that mining products and mining jobs will have to be part of any economic restoration in this country.

That argument could prove effective in an announcement by President-Elect Barack Obama who said Saturday that he would launch the nation's largest public works program since the construction of the interstate highway system in the 1950s.

Attorney James Kress stressed that "it's virtually certain that a federal royalty will be passed at some point in time."

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