Mining Rider Creates Dispute Idaho Lawmaker Pushing Hard-Rock Mining Legislation

There’s some deja vu in a controversial mining rider working its way through Congress.

Last year, U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton drew national attention for hitching a permit for an Okanogan County gold mine to an emergency spending bill. By adding the rider to the bill, Gorton, R-Wash., assured a permit for Washington’s first large, open-pit gold mine without a floor debate on the issue.

This year, fax machines in environmental organizations are lighting up over a mining rider authored by U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho.

The rider addresses 3809 regulations, which govern hard-rock mining on federal lands. It is attached to a military construction bill, which may have a vote this summer.

Much is at stake for both industry officials and environmentalists, including whether the Bureau of Land Management can declare certain areas of federal land off limits to mining.

Craig spokesman Will Hart said the rider rectifies an area where the Clinton Administration overstepped its bounds.

The dispute developed over a report put out by the nonpartisan National Research Council. Congress commissioned the $800,000 study to evaluate the effectiveness of current mining regulations.

The council recommended stronger enforcement of existing mining regulations and reclamation bonding for a broader array of mining activities. It also called for further study of the environmental impacts of hard-rock mining.

The mining industry has no quarrel with the findings, said Laura Skaer, director of the Northwest Mining Association in Spokane. Most industry officials support changes in bonding regulations to ensure that companies have financial means to reclaim land after mining is completed, Skaer said.

But the administration overstepped its authority in writing other rules from the findings, she said.

One proposed rule would allow the Bureau of Land Management to set aside areas of federal land where no mining could occur.

“We believe that’s Congress’ job, and should be determined through the designation of national parks and wilderness areas,” Skaer said. “It ought to be determined in a full debate on the floor of the Congress, and not by an unelected bureaucrat.”

Craig’s rider would prohibit BLM from writing rules that go beyond the scope of the recommendations in the report, Hart said. Using a rider is faster and more efficient than sponsoring separate legislation, he said.

Environmental organizations are decrying the use of the rider.

Government officials should have the latitude to declare areas off limits to mining, just as they declare some areas off limits to logging, said Alan Septoff of the Mineral Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

Attaching a rider to a funding bill usually assures passage, he said.

“The funding bills are very difficult to veto,” Septoff said. “It really undermines public participation in government.”

The same arguments circulated last year during the Gorton rider. In reality, both parties use riders to advance their causes, Skaer said.

“This is the tool available because the administration is not engaging in a discussion,” she said.