"While Congress is searching for ways to save money to combat budget deficits, I urge my colleagues to look at this legislation as a means to generate funds for the Treasury. Instead of endorsing more tax cuts for the wealthy and considering selling off our national parks, it is the duty of the Congress to be responsible stewards of our public resources and to protect citizens from greedy multi-national corporations which are the recipients of this windfall," declared Rahall, the Ranking Democrat on the House Resources Committee.

     In 1872, the purpose of the General Mining Law was to entice Americans to settle the West by allowing miners to purchase Federal land for $2.50 or $5.00 an acre. Yet, these bargain basement price tags are still in effect after 133 years.

     Under the current mining law, the federal government has given away over $245 billion in mineral rich public lands. In return, the mining industry has left taxpayers with a cleanup bill, for their business and mining practices, estimated in 1993 to be in the range of $32 to $72 billion for hundreds of thousands of abandoned mines that pollute the Western landscape, including 40 percent of the headwaters of Western waterways.

     Rahall’s legislation, the "Federal Mineral Development and Land Protection Equity Act of 2005", would prohibit the continued give-away of public lands. It would require that a holding fee be paid for the use of the land, and that a royalty be paid on the production of valuable minerals, such as gold and silver, extracted from Western Federal lands. And, it would require industry to comply with some basic reclamation standards to insure long-term protection of the environment both during mining and after it has been completed.

     Since 2001, the Bureau of Land Management has seen a four-fold increase in mining claims filed. To offset some of this activity, today a new organization called Mine All Mine - the Citizen’s Mining Company is staking claim to 1,000 acres to protect special places near municipal water supplies, important fisheries, and wilderness in six Western States.

     Rahall has introduced similar legislation in previous years. This legislation is different in that it has as its centerpiece the recognition that there are special places, often sacred sites, that should be off-limits to hardrock mining. The mining law reform legislation also recognizes that there are other special places in the United States with spectacular natural resources and values that should be protected from the unavoidable, and often irreversible, damage caused by hardrock mining.

     "It is time, well past time, that the Congress replace this archaic law with one that reflects contemporary economic, environmental and cultural values. Insuring a fair return to the public in exchange for the disposition of public resources, and properly managing our public lands are neither Republican nor Democratic issues. They are simply ones that make sense if we are to be good stewards of America's lands and meet our responsibilities to the American people," concluded Rahall.