James Hill: “I rise this evening to tell a story to my colleagues about a place called Cooke City, MT. Cooke City, MT, is an isolated…”

“I rise this evening to tell a story to my colleagues about a place called Cooke City, MT. Cooke City, MT, is an isolated community in south central Montana. It is located about 3 miles northeast of Yellowstone Park. It is surrounded by a historical mining district where there has been active mining for well over 100 years. It also happens to be the home of a place called the New World Mine. Some of my colleagues might recognize the name the New World Mine. On October 12, 1996, a little over a year ago, President Clinton announced that he had entered into an agreement with a foreign mining company and an environmental community to stop the process of proceeding with the development of a new gold mine at the site of the New World Mine. He did so based upon concerns that had been raised by members of the environmental community that mining at that site might pose some risk to Yellowstone Park. However, in the process of interrupting the process of the mine, the President also interrupted the environmental impact statement that would have given us for certain an understanding of what the real risks would have been. So in secret the President, a foreign mining company and an environmental community agreed to give away 65 million dollars' worth of public land in Montana in exchange for this mine. Mr. Speaker, that created outrage in Montana. Sportsmens' groups and environmentalists expressed outrage because Montanans feel great attachment to the public land.…”