Nethercutt Loses Fight For Bureau But Battle Is Far From Over On Keeping Mines Offices Open In Spokane

The Spokane offices of the U.S. Bureau of Mines have moved a step closer to the budget chopping block, but supporters say the fight is far from over.

A House of Representatives appropriations subcommittee voted Tuesday to bring the budget ax down on the bureau.

Republican U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt of Spokane tried to save the bureau’s Spokane and other Western offices by amending the panel’s budget proposal.

The subcommittee, which oversees Department of the Interior spending, tied 6-6 when voting on Nethercutt’s amendment. But committee chairman Rep. Ralph Regula, R-Ohio, voted against the amendment, and so it died in the committee.

Regional mining industry leaders say the bureau’s technical support staff provides companies with important assistance when working in a regulation-choked mining environment.

Tim Olson, executive director of the Northwest Mining Association in Spokane, says closure of the Spokane mining offices would be a great loss for mining companies around the Inland Northwest.

Coeur d’Alene-based Hecla Mining Co. supports some budget cuts in the bureau, said Bill Booth of Hecla. But the company backs Nethercutt’s proposal to salvage the Western offices, including Spokane’s.

Hecla has become concerned with what it perceives as the changing role of the Spokane bureau offices. The company has relied on the office for advice on mine safety and new technology, but it sees the bureau becoming more of an arm for environmental regulation.

“We already have layer upon layer of that through other agencies,” he said. “We’d like to see the bureau return more to the traditional role of supporting mining efforts.”

The proposal to cut the bureau faces a long road before it could become reality, said Ken Lisaius, press secretary for Nethercutt in Washington, D.C.

The full House Appropriations Committee will address the Bureau of Mines budget today, he said. Even if the plan to cut the bureau makes it past the House, there is stronger support for the bureau’s role in the Senate, he said.

“We’re working real hard on this,” he said. “It’s a long way from being done at this point.”

The Spokane offices employ about 150 workers and have an annual budget of about $10 million. Just two years ago, the offices employed 200 workers, said Rod Rosenkranz, deputy chief of the offices.

About 25 workers have left or lost their jobs since the beginning of the year because of budget cuts and the dim outlook for the bureau, Rosenkranz said. But workers at the Spokane offices still hold out hope that the offices can be saved, he said.

The Western Field Operations Center and the Mining Research Center make up the Bureau of Mines’ Spokane offices.

Budget-slashing Republicans have targeted the bureau, and the Clinton administration supports closing the Spokane offices and consolidating a dozen bureau offices nationwide into only four offices.

Booth said his boss, Hecla Chairman and CEO Art Brown, went to Washington to speak with Rhea Graham, Clinton’s new director of the Bureau of Mines. He tried to persuade her that the offices are worth keeping, Booth said.

The Spokane offices have helped Hecla with safety measures and with installing a rock-burst monitoring system at its flagship Lucky Friday silver mine at Mullan, Idaho.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: AGENCY EMPLOYS 150, HAS BIG IMPACT The U.S. Bureau of Mines employs about 150 people in its two Spokane offices: the Western Field Operations Center and the Mining Research Center. The offices handle programs and projects such as: Mineral studies for seven Western states Abandoned mine land reclamation Hazardous waste disposal, ocean resources development and other environmental programs Mine safety Mining technology development The bureau is Spokane’s fourth-largest federal government employer and contributes between $30 million and $40 million in economic impact in the region. -Source: U.S. Bureau of Mines