George Miller

This legislation will restore confidence that we can swim and fish in our streams and rivers without getting sick.

Water quality in California's San Joaquin Valley has been degraded by unregulated discharges of waste from dairy farms.

Farm SAFE is very similar to legislation that I introduced last Congress.

Today, I am introducing three bills, in addition to Rep. Nick Rahall's (D-WVA) comprehensive bill to reform the Mining Law of 1872.

The National Park Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and many state and local government agencies have all expressed concerns about the quality of scientific data and information upon which NRC…

ten and a half million tons of toxic wastes generated by the now-defunct Atlas Mine are stored in a tailings pond located immediately adjacent to the Colorado River near Moab, Utah.

Sadly, the NRC has seems determined to perpetuate rather than resolve this dangerous situation in the case of the Atlas site.

This plan will not stop contamination of the Colorado River, which is expected to continue for hundreds of years.

The majority refused to even hold hearings on these bills during the last Congress, instead focusing on crushing Clinton administration policies that would have made miners accountable for their actions and decreased the level of…

Ten and a half million tons of toxic wastes generated by the now-defunct Atlas Mine are stored in a tailings pond located immediately adjacent to the Colorado River near Moab, Utah.

These tailings are radioactive and contain high concentrations of ammonia, arsenic, lead, vanadium, selenium, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, and other toxic metals left by the leaching process used to separate uranium from ore.

The NRC has seems determined to perpetuate rather than resolve this dangerous situation in the case of the Atlas site.

Moving the tailings will remove the source of the contamination.

This is corporate welfare that subsidizes both foreign and domestic mining companies and should be stopped.

Mining reform is long overdue.

Over the past century, irresponsible and unwise mining operators have devastated over half a million acres of land--by acting without thought for the future or by simply walking away from played-out mines.

The effort to update the 1872 law has enjoyed vigorous, bipartisan support in the House of Representatives for many years.

Public opinion--even in Western states with large mining activities--is strongly in favor of mining reform that includes a royalty that raises substantial revenues to be used for abandoned mine clean-up.

This antiquated relic allows mining operators nearly unlimited access to our Nation's hard rock minerals, no matter what other values (such as fish and wildlife habitat) may also be present.

The 106th Congress should impose a reasonable net smelter royalty on hard rock minerals extracted from public lands, dedicating the revenues to cleaning up abandoned mine sites, permanently extend the $100 rental fee, and close the…

Over the past century, irresponsible and unwise mining operators have devastated over half a million acres of land--by acting without thought for the future or by simply walking away from played-out mines.

Lack of Congressional action to reform this archaic law is indefensible--albeit a testament to the strength of the mining industry's influence on certain key Members who have consistently blocked any attempt to amend or replace the law…

The only mining law reform bill Congress has sent to the President in recent years was part of the fiscal year 1995 budget reconciliation bill that President Clinton properly vetoed in December 1995.

Leaving a huge, leaking tailings pile adjacent to the Colorado River does not make sense.

Now is the time to act.