Mining Groups Seek A Better Political Climate Incoming Association President Says Regulations Need To Be Changed

There was little doubt Friday where miners stand in the Bush-Gore presidential showdown.

Applause burst out at the Northwest Mining Association conference when backers of Al Gore lost a bid to disqualify up to 25,000 absentee ballots in Florida. Emotions deflated when the vice president won a bigger battle - allowing for manual recounts of some disputed ballots.

“I think it’s fair to assume that Gov. Bush would be more understanding of the mining industry,” said Jack Gerard, incoming president of the National Mining Association.

The eight years of the Clinton administration have been trying times for the mining industry, officials said.

Roadless designations and new national monuments have removed areas of public lands from mineral exploration. Efforts to reform the 1872 Mining Law hit gridlock.

Permitting of new mines, such as the Crown Jewel Mine in Okanogan County, became national battles, Gerard said.

Some mining companies now rate the “political risk” of operating in the U.S. higher than in some Third World countries, he said.

The National Mining Association is considering legal challenges to new “3809 regulations,” which govern how mining companies operate on federal lands.

There’s too much “loosey-goosey” in the new rules, including the government’s ability to arbitrarily veto projects after companies comply with years of permitting, Gerard said.

Reforming the 1872 Mining Law stands a better chance in a Bush administration, said Gerard, until recently a partner in a lobbying firm with former U.S. Sen. James McClure, R-Idaho.

The industry is willing to pay royalties for minerals extracted from public lands, he said. It’s willing to boost lease rates on public lands from $2.50 to $5 per acre to fair market value. And it wants to establish a fund to clean up abandoned mine sites, Gerard said.

But the industry won’t go along with the type of reforms proposed by the Clinton administration, he said.

The administration wanted mining companies to pay a 12 percent gross royalty from operations on public lands, said Ivan Urnovitz of the Northwest Mining Association. That’s expecting too much from an industry with a 6 to 9 percent profit margin, he said.