13 October 1999

CONGRESSIONAL CONFEREES ISSUE MINE COMPANIES A "FREE PASS" TO DUMP MINE WASTE ON PUBLIC LANDS

MPC CALLS ON CLINTON-GORE TO FOLLOW THROUGH ON VETO THREAT

ENVIRONMENTAL LEGACY OF CLINTON-GORE ADMINISTRATION ON THE LINE OVER ANTI-ENVIRONMENTAL MINING RIDER

(Washington)-Today the House-Senate conference committee on the Interior Appropriations bill tentatively endorsed language that would remove current restrictions on dumping dangerous mine waste on public lands. This conference committee language, if enacted, would override the will of the House of Representatives, expressed in June, in a bipartisan 273-151 vote supporting current limits on waste dumping. This language also sets up an environmental confrontation with the Clinton-Gore Administration which is on record supporting mining reform and has repeatedly threatened to veto the Interior Appropriations Bill over this and other anti-environmental riders.

In a speech today President Clinton re-issued a veto-threat,"the Republican majority is polluting our spending bills with special interest riders that would [...] allow mining companies to dump more toxic waste on public land [.] I have vetoed such bills before because they were loaded up with anti-environmental riders. If necessary, I will do so again."

Conservationists have been fighting for decades to strengthen and modernize the outdated 1872 Mining Law. Former Secretary of State, Stewart L. Udall, has called mining law reform "the most important piece of unfinished business on the nation's natural resource agenda."

"Mining companies may once again strike gold on our public lands, now in addition to free minerals they are being handed a free-pass to dump more mine waste," said Stephen D'Esposito, President of Mineral Policy Center. "The environmental credentials of the Clinton-Gore Administration and this Congress are on the line as we head into this election cycle. This is a test of the public interest versus those of a powerful special interest and a veto is in the public's interest."

The House-Senate conference committee considered competing versions of the fiscal year 2000 Interior Appropriations bill. The Senate version of the bill contains anti-environmental rider, inserted by Senator Larry Craig (R-ID), that would strip-away current limits to dumping vast quantities of potentially toxic mine waste on public lands. The House version of the bill contains an amendment, passed with bipartisan support, a vote of 273-151, that calls for enforcement of current limits on waste dumping. The language adopted today has sufficient support to be adopted by the conference, but it has not yet come to a formal vote.

Mineral Policy Center (MPC) is the leading environmental organization working to protect communities and the environment from the impacts of hardrock mining.

===Mineral Policy Center Working to Protect Communities and the Environment===

1612 K St., NW, Suite 808 Washington, D.C. 20006

202-887-1872 (ph) / 202-887-1875 (fax)

web: www.mineralpolicy.org / email: mpc@mineralpolicy.org

back to news release list

Our Mission	Our Vision	The Place	The Threat
OHBC on the Road	How to Order	How to Help Us	Links

E Mail OHBC POB 433, Tonasket, WA 98855 509-485-3912