Tuesday, July 14, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today called for
modernization of the 137-year-old law governing mining on federal lands.



"The current mining law is woefully out of date," Murkowski said. "We need
to overhaul the law to ensure that it strikes the right balance between
protecting the environment, obtaining a fair return for taxpayers, creating
jobs and maintaining a secure supply of American minerals."



At a Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing Tuesday on two proposals to
reform the Mining Law, Murkowski, the panel's top Republican, expressed
concern that the proposed language could hamper economic development by
drastically increasing fees and royalties, placing huge swaths of public
land off-limits to mineral production, and instituting a long list of new
regulations.



"If we get mining reform wrong, we risk trading our reliance on foreign oil
for a reliance on foreign minerals," Murkowski said.



The United States currently imports 100 percent of the quartz crystal needed
for the photovoltaic panels used in solar power generation, 91 percent of
the platinum for fuel cells, 100 percent of the indium for LED lighting
technologies, and 100 percent of the rare earth minerals for advanced
batteries.



Murkowski noted that the margin of error on mining law is very thin given
the potential for job creation and the long-term economic effects of reform.
The United States already attracts a mere 8 percent of global mining
development.



"Minerals are the building blocks of infrastructure, technology, defense and
industry," Murkowski said. "They're also essential to the new, clean-energy
technologies that this very committee has sought to advance."


 

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, today called for
modernization of the 137-year-old law governing mining on federal lands.



"The current mining law is woefully out of date," Murkowski said. "We need
to overhaul the law to ensure that it strikes the right balance between
protecting the environment, obtaining a fair return for taxpayers, creating
jobs and maintaining a secure supply of American minerals."



At a Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing Tuesday on two proposals to
reform the Mining Law, Murkowski, the panel's top Republican, expressed
concern that the proposed language could hamper economic development by
drastically increasing fees and royalties, placing huge swaths of public
land off-limits to mineral production, and instituting a long list of new
regulations.



"If we get mining reform wrong, we risk trading our reliance on foreign oil
for a reliance on foreign minerals," Murkowski said.



The United States currently imports 100 percent of the quartz crystal needed
for the photovoltaic panels used in solar power generation, 91 percent of
the platinum for fuel cells, 100 percent of the indium for LED lighting
technologies, and 100 percent of the rare earth minerals for advanced
batteries.



Murkowski noted that the margin of error on mining law is very thin given
the potential for job creation and the long-term economic effects of reform.
The United States already attracts a mere 8 percent of global mining
development.



"Minerals are the building blocks of infrastructure, technology, defense and
industry," Murkowski said. "They're also essential to the new, clean-energy
technologies that this very committee has sought to advance."