Legislation & Regulation
Legislative and Regulatory Update
March 2019 by Scott Harn
• Massive 660-page lands bill passed in the Senate
Senate Bill 47 (S47), the Natural Resources Management Act, introduced by Senator Murkowski (R-Alaska), was chock full of land conveyances, mineral withdrawals, park boundary adjustments, and gifts to various Senators to get their support. Our biggest concern is that it included permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), which is the primary vehicle used by the federal government to place more public lands off-limits to mining.
Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) introduced an amendment in an attempt to limit authorization of the LWCF to a period of four years.
In support of the LWCF limits, Senator Lee stated, “...the program has regrettably drifted far from its original intent and has become rife with abuse.
“Indeed, the Land and Water Conservation Fund—or LWCF, as it is often described—has instead been used as a primary tool for more Federal land acquisition rather than to actually help people access or to help the government care for the land we already manage.”
Senator Lee also noted the federal government currently administers 640 million acres and there is an $18.5 billion maintenance backlog on federal lands.
Senator Lee’s amendment was defeated by a vote of 68 to 30.
S47 received a full, recorded vote on February 12, and it passed overwhelmingly by a vote of 92-8. The eight Senators who voted against the bill were Cruz (R-TX), Inhofe (R-OK), Johnson (R-WI), Lankford (R-OK), Lee (R-UT), Paul (R-KY), Sasse (R-NE), and Toomey (R-PA).
The bill now awaits consideration in the House.
Because I Said So
Like all federal judges, he swore an oath to perform his duties “impartially… under the Constitution and laws of the U.S.” Nothing in those documents gives Judge Morris authority to order the BLM to work with non-government organizations (the same ones that filed the lawsuit in question) to alter America’s use of energy.
Legislative and Regulatory Update
• Biden administration considers ban on new mining
• 30 x 30 Termination Act
Trump Proposes $1.5 Billion to Fund US Uranium Production
US uranium mines produced less than 174,000 pounds in 2019, according to the February Energy Information Administration report. That’s down from 4.9 million pounds in 2014.
Legislative and Regulatory Update
• Forest Service to revisit 228 regulations
• WOTUS Executive Order suspended
Annual Claim Fees Due September 3, 2013
Because September 1 falls on a Sunday this year; and Monday, September 2, is a holiday, the BLM will accept yearly filings through September 3.
Feds Order Closure of Idaho Mine
Federal safety inspectors have ordered one of the nation’s deepest underground mines closed in northern Idaho following an investigation prompted by a series of accidents that killed two miners over the last year.
Taking on the EPA, Sasquatch, Ratchilla and Gold Dredging
...we packed up our two dredges and headed for our claim about an hour away on the South Fork of the Clearwater to dredge openly in opposition to the EPA.
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