Mark Amodei: “I appreciate the comments. I would just like to point out, for the Record, since we're talking about Western abandoned…”

“I appreciate the comments. I would just like to point out, for the Record, since we're talking about Western abandoned mines, what's your definition of abandoned mine? Because if it's where somebody pushed up a little dirt and that's considered an abandoned mine, quite frankly, we're pretty proud in Nevada of the job that our Division of Environmental Protection has done on abandoned mine projects. We collaborate with the Feds. Quite simply, I believe the phrase was used earlier today, it's a solution in search of a problem. We're getting on it. We're doing very well. And quite frankly, I hope the Chair is not on this committee, but when you see a 12\1/2\ gross proceeds tax subject to the appropriations process of my colleagues here, no thank you very much.”