Dale Bumpers: “I rise to introduce a bill dealing with a proposed gold, silver, and copper mine to be operated by the Crown Butte…”

“I rise to introduce a bill dealing with a proposed gold, silver, and copper mine to be operated by the Crown Butte Mining Co., a wholly-owned subsidiary of two Canadian companies, 2 rac{1}{2} miles north of Yellowstone National Park. They also propose to construct a 72-acre impoundment area with a dam that would be somewhere between 75 and 100 feet high, which would have a plastic lining on the bottom and some sort of a cap on top to keep oxygen away from the 5.5 million tons of tailings from the mining operation that would go into this impoundment area. The purpose of keeping the oxygen away from it is to keep the waste from turning into sulfuric acid. The President of the United States flew over this area last summer and promptly thereafter, by Executive order, withdrew 19,100 acres of land in the Gallatin and Custer National Forests in Montana. My bill would prevent approximately 24,000 acres of Federal land in the area from being used for mining, subject to valid existing rights.”