Hours before George W. Bush was inaugurated, new surface mining regulations governing hard rock mining went into effect, efforts by Bush administration to obstruct the regulations did not block the rule.

 After mining reform failed to materialize in congress 1993-94, Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt began the rule making process in1997 to protect the environment from modern day mining practices.

 In a nutshell, the new rule is a considerable improvement over the old rule… But it may still not adequately "prevent unnecessary or undue degradation" of our public lands.

 The improvements of the new rule are many among other things it:

1. Establishes environmental performance standards;

2. Creates meaningful bonding requirements;

3. Acknowledges the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) ' authority to deny mine proposals;

4. Increases opportunity for public partiplication;

5. Strengthens enforcement provisions;

6. Widens the scope of liability.

However in many cases, these improvements may not go far enough. Environmental performance standards are established but they are qualified with expectations such as "economically feasibility". Meaningful bonding requirements are created, but they may be circumvented with blanket bonds. BLMs authority to deny mine proposals is acknowledged but not to the extent it can weigh a mines proposal's comparative value against other potential land uses.

 Opposition to the reform is certainly not over. In Nevada where hard rock mining is the second largest industry in the state, the attorney generals office filed a lawsuit challenging BLMs authority to implement new rules.

Reprinted from The Buckhorn Bulletin, March 2001, the newsletter of the Okanogan Highlands Alliance, PO Box 163, Tonasket, WA 98855.