Legislation & Regulation

The ESA has become an unwieldy beast that was hijacked by government agencies run amok, and by extreme environmental groups who saw it as a way to lock up public lands and to generate income through exaggerated claims and continuous lawsuits.

• Critical minerals obtain national security status
• Idaho to take over EPA permitting

We spent the morning in a meeting with one of the higher-ups at the US Forest Service. I presented him with 412 complaints received from our readers, along with a summary of the complaints to make his job easier.

• Judge orders reconsideration of “bi-state” sage grouse population in California and Nevada
• Environmental groups attempt to reinstate hard rock rule

Casperson said he is not worried about businesses subverting the language in the bill because the DEQ would still have the authority to halt the new construction if it is deemed environmentally unsound.

…I’ll be heading back to Washington, DC, on June 4 with Clark Pearson of PLP for nearly a week of meetings with the Mine Safety and Health Administration, US Forest Service, Environmental Protection Agency, and numerous members of Congress in both the House and Senate.

The paper’s crack reporters filed requests under the Freedom of Information Act, demanding public release of “secret” emails explaining why the Interior Department recommended, and President Trump approved, shrinking Bears’ Ears and Grand Staircase Escalante National Monuments.

There are a few questions you will need to ask yourself before you apply for a suction dredge permit from the State Water Resources Control Board.

They cited concerns that the Trump administration would allow more logging, oil drilling, mining or development on some of the 46 million acres controlled by the federal government in California.

• DOI to address threatened species
• 141 Confirmations still pending
• California withdrawals canceled

We have an opportunity to make significant and substantial changes to provide relief for small miners with the Trump Administration and the current makeup of Congress. We realize the time to act is now, but we need your help.

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.

• Proposed budget for EPA
• California SB 1222
• 640 million acres and counting
• Gold and silver bullion

We have learned over the years, of course, that “previous development,” “roadless,” and “local support,” are in the mind of the beholder.

Besides the EPA issue, our major priority is to work on the proposed amendment to the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act (S 145), a bill proposed in the Senate by US Senator Dean Heller (R-Nevada).

• Change is coming at Interior
• Interior Department seeking public comment regarding minerals

The Senator’s office was very receptive to the small miner’s plight and was unaware of the dire problems created by the over-regulation of small-scale mining from so many different fronts. It was pointed out that S 145 may help the large mining companies a little, but falls woefully short in addressing the needs of small operators who make up 85% of domestic mines.

Minerals and Mining Advisory Council (MMAC) founder Joe Martori met with Jim Scrivner, the Bureau of Land Management Deputy State Director of Energy and Minerals in Sacramento, California...

• Critical minerals a priority
• Montana miners win again
• MSHA backs down
• Environmental groups as foreign agents