also want to thank the chairman of the committee mr ray hall for his efforts on this bill he was very patient very respectful i appreciate his time energy and we may disagree but i certainly do appreciate him listening to my concerns in opposition to this particular bill so thank you so much also the ranking of the subcommittee chairman also for hearing field hearing in elko nevada i certainly do appreciate that also given them a chance to be heard and i know that was appreciate it mining is the second largest industry in the state of nevada police proximately thirty two thousand the vad and supporting obviously countless number of families these high paying jobs and the related services are the backbone of the rural community in our state and other rural economies i would take for example a couple larry and vicki childs of spring creek nevada larry retired from the mining industry approximately twenty five years ago and sub subsequently went to work for a company in elko nevada providing miners the tools and equipment that they need vicki works at a health clinic for miners and their families provided by the two largest mining companies in the area vickie's clinic employs two pharmacists for doctors physicians assistants nurses lab technicians maintenance and clerical people larry and vicki rates for people for children in  nevada one of whom currently today works in the mining industry when this bill closes down the local mining operations the equipment suppliers and the health care clinics will have layoffs and obviously close their doors the child's family will begin their families will begin to lose their homes the mining industry will join other domestic industry crushed by foreign competition and over regulation despite opposition to this bill  elko the most affected communities by this bill the new effects of excessive taxes and burdensome regulations of this bill will kill this industry and with that industry will go the towns and families that depend upon it clearly this was not the result of the field hearing that the community had hoped for all of these measures many of the supporters will say or in the name of fairness and the question is fairness to whom fairness to  fairness to mexico arizona i know china thinks it's fair i would guess that south africa thinks this is a fair bill probably even guess it australia thinks it's a fair bill but do you think it's a fair bill to the child's family in spring creek in the many thousands like them i don't think so but just like this bill ignores the futures of the families in the vatican h r twenty two sixty two also fails to embrace the realities of the features of the future of our nation india and china with their state funded purchases of global mineral commodities should make us consider the long term ramifications of the health of the domestic mining industry also the technological advances we are all we all want in our future such as alternative energy rely heavily on minerals and metals a hybrid car for example requires twice as much copper as a traditional s u v today our national defense will rely on foreign sources of mineral to build our military equipment frankly i don't want to rely on china when we're in a war time situation i urge my colleagues to support rural communities urge them to support our domestic mining industry for the sake of our families our economy and our national security by voting against h r twenty two sixty two i yield back gentleman from west two hardrock mining and reclamation act of two thousand and seven and in doing so i want to congratulate its lead sponsor the chairman of the committee and natural resources my good friend the great hall for twenty years now and that has led the effort to reform mining laws which have been  since eighteen seventy two it is high time as a speaker that the nineteenth century mining law be updated to reflect our twenty first century needs and goals the current law was enacted before the invention of the telephone and was designed to protect promote mineral development in the age of the pick and shovel prospector unlike virtually any other part use of public lands eight hundred seventy two mining law allows mining on public lands for hard rock minerals such as gold copper without any compensation or royalty it is time that this law be changed to reflect modern mining technologies and new social values that question whether mineral extraction is always the best or highest use of the land as a long term member of the natural resources committee met thirty more seconds thank you is a long term member of this committee i want to once again commend chairman ray hall for his commitment to mining we form and here miss the cost of producing a balance bill which benefits american taxpayers who own the land the environment and the mining industry i urge my colleagues to support twenty to sixty two gentleman from new mexico mr chairman and in order to again stick with the facts that i think one of my colleagues mentioned we should i would note that when we just heard the comment that no fees or dollars were taken from the mining industry actually fifty five million was paid and claim maintenance fees but if we're to have this discussion about what effect this royalty is going to how i think we should look at other circumstances and again these facts were presented in committee in the committee hearings but somehow they did not get integrated into the bill the nods and again it's the reason that we're passionate here on the floor about our points of view we had testimony from british columbia that instituted a two point five percent royalty now we're looking at an eight percent almost three times as much now if as our opponents claim there's no effect that we can expect nothing then you would think nothing happened in british columbia ye after they instituted in one year one year revenues from the mines didn't increase because of this royalty it decreased from twenty eight to fifteen almost a fifty percent decrease exploration likewise fell dramatically from thirty eight to fifteen far more than a fifty percent drop that was in one year the tax was repealed the next year because they found out exactly what we're claiming that jobs were lost six thousand jobs were lost in one year nine hundred seventy two there were the number of claims fell by eighty five percent so when our opponents say well there's not going to be any effect here it's only right we're paying we're asking them to pay the same amount that you pay for a snack at the grocery store british columbia did one third of the tax they were jersey mr holt valued member of our committee on natural resources and women is ranked in the two minutes mr chairman i thank the chairman and commend my colleague from west virginia for bringing this legislation to the floor we're doing a good thing here the mining hundred seventy two is as archaic and as deserving of updating as the name suggests it was written at a time of manifest destiny the belief of our predecessors who held that we should expand from coast to coast and that mining was recognized as one of the best uses a public public lands and when the country seemed so vast that no one could imagine that human action would affect the world many things have changed over one hundred thirty five years our nation is settled we've come to realize the worth of our natural environment and we've come to comprehend the effects of human actions on the resources that we will pass down to future generations this legislation is governing hard rock mining and industry that's remained exempt from environmental regulations despite the fact that you the u s the p a s toxic release inventory is determined that hard rock mining is a primary source of toxic pollution in the united states i'm pleased that in committee we've included language important language i would say to restrict permits for activities that would harm national parks and national monuments there are thousands of claims and could be thousands more in the close environment of national parks and national monuments some of our most treasured lands this legislation will provide vital protection for those lands mr speaker we all know well the costs to american taxpayers of refusing to look after the environment and this language about national parks i think will also save the taxpayer money because we will have to spend hundreds of millions of the dollars to clean up the damage to water supplies and so forth i commend the chairman for bringing such a good bill forward  gentleman from new mexico mr speaker may i inquire how much time is remaining joe from new mexico has three minutes left jennifer west virginia's four minutes remaining mr speaker we again just sticking with the facts we had one of my colleagues talk about floor spar that that's what's used to make toothpicks as if there were no strategic minerals and yet when i look at the list of imported minerals i see that we import seventy two percent of titanium which is used in jet aircraft fighter jet aircraft seventy two percent i think that when we're discussing these facts we should be talking about the critical facts yes i'm sure that the gentleman is correct that we do import florus far and it probably is used on toothpicks but we should be talking about the domestic security about the security of our nation about the willingness of our industry and the capability of our industry to provide the answer amounts to defend this country and we are at a time when terrorists are trying to overcome qaeda radical jihad the terrorists are trying every way they can and we're going to put the source of critical minerals that are necessary for our nation's defense outside the nation's borders simply doesn't make additional speakers because i am prepared to close the i have the right because i have no additional speakers i will quote the gentleman's right to quote ok mr speaker when i look on the walls of this chamber i see the quote by daniel webster up above the speaker's chair and it says let us develop the resources of our land call forth its powers build up its institutions promote all its great interest and see whether we also in our day and generation may not perform something worthy to be remembered worthy to be remembered i think our founding fathers had it right they visualized a nation of tremendous promise where the wealth of the nation in the protection of the nation would come together in the production of its resources in the taking care of this land i don't find  unusual at all that the same generation protected yellowstone and yet gave us the capability to create these mines which take billions of dollars to promote and to produce i don't find that unusual at all but what i do find unusual is that our friends on the other side of the aisle are not listening to their own testimony coming in their own hearings we heard testimony from both democrat and republican witnesses alike saying eight percent royalties are on precedented they are damaging destructive they will hurt those are the things that we heard in the committee i would suggest that we send this work in progress back to the committee and finish our work before we try to change one hundred thirty five year old policy i would yield back mr speaker thank you very much a was to be enacted as amounting all the eight hundred seventy two he noted that debate had taken place rather it was worthwhile for the government to sell the mineral lands of the united states some thought on some idea of a walty belonging to the government instead the members debating that measure decided to allow for the patenting of mining claims for two dollars and fifty cents or five dollars an acre depending on whether it was a load or place or claim because in the words a represented sergeant we are inducing miners to purchase their claims so that large amounts of money are there bab brought into the treasury of the united states and quote well now perhaps back then two dollars and fifty cents an acre represented a large amount of money but i submit it does not today and the world to be debated back when this law was passed is what ironically we are debating today now the gentleman from new mexico has said that in order to pay that two dollars and fifty cents an acre you have to days with that noted let me state that i have engaged in the effort to reform the mind of eighteen seventy two these past many years not just for the apparent reasons valuable minerals man for free the threats to human health and safety from abandoned mine lands but also because i am pro money i come from a coal mining state because i no longer believe that we can expect a viable hard rock mining industry to exist on public domain lands in the future if we do not make corrections to the law today i do so because there are provisions of the existing law which impede efficient and serious mineral exploration and development and i do so because of the unsaid political climate governing this activity with three form is not coming in a comprehensive fashion certainly will continue to come on a piecemeal basis as my colleagues come to the florida vote on this issue i hope they will ask their staffs just how many letters from how many mining groups have they received in opposition to the pending bill i hope they'll bring those letters to the floor with them because i asked them if there will not be many and i submit the reason may be using my intuition could be responsible segments of the hard rock mining industry which is  majority could responsible segment of that hard rock mine the industry want to end the uncertainty that exists over this industry could it be that they want a finality to the argument surrounding their industry could it be that they want a basis upon which to make business and future investment decisions and hardly today are they scream and pop or look at this week's wall street journal headline gold rush of two thousand and seven manning mergers the price is pretty well up there these days i think these companies are doing quite well and i would like to have some finality on this issue i believe that with enough courage as we've seen from elected officials hundreds sportsman fishermen from across the west we can continue to address the problems facing mining and dovetail our need for minerals with the necessity of protecting our environment for stake here in this debate over the mining of eight hundred seventy two is the health welfare and environmental integrity of our people and on our federal lands at stake is the public interest of all americans and at stake is the ability of the hard rock mining industry to continue to operate on public domain lands in the future to produce those minerals that are necessary to chairman i would like to ask unanimous consent to include the governor a letter from governor perry of alaska the u s chamber of commerce and mexico the national mining association all and in opposition to the legislation proposed here time for general the very it has expired pursuant to the rule of the amendment in the nature of a substitute printed in the bill shall be considered as an original bill for the purpose of amendment under the five minute rule and shall be considered moment to the committee amendment is in order except those printed in house report one ten four sixteen each of them and may be offered only in the order printed in the report by a member designated in the report shall be considered read shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent of the amendment shall not be subject to amendment and shall not be subject to a demand for the vision of the question it is now in order to consider amendment number one printed in house report one ten four sixteen for what purposes the gentleman from west virginia arrives mr  house report number one ten dash four sixteen offered by mr ray hall of west virginia general homeless virginia have a request clerk will report the modification modification to amendment number one president how supply number one ten dash for sixteen offered by mr ray hall of west virginia in the instruction relating to section two zero two the three insert before the word insert virginia mr a hole and a member opposed each will control five minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from west virginia thank you mr chair mr chairman following two days of committee consideration the bill during which the committee debated twenty five amendments we continue to dialogue with several members of the committee both sides of the out democrat republican in order to further perfect the endor line legislation and to keep the fairness of the process open this manager's amendment is the result of those deliberations and summary the manager's amendment would one clarify that valid existing rights associated with existing mining cla would be protected under the act number two this amendment clarifies it in addition to paying a four percent royalty existing existing operation would still need to come into compliance with the act within ten years number three this amendment clarifies that the claim maintenance and location fees currently allocated currently al allowed to the administration of the mining claims will continue to be so loud with the balance going to clean up of abandoned hard rock mines and addition this amendment as requested by the gentleman from colorado mr lamb born that user fees assessed by the b l m to process manning permit applications would be definition for undue degradation rates are twenty to sixty two changes the current standard contained in the federal land policy and management act from unnecessary and i do degradation to just on do degradation which is defined to mean irreparable harm to significant cultural or have environmental resources on public lands that cannot be a flat typically managed the new definition is dramatically different from the existing regulatory definition of unnecessary nandu under current law unnecessary and undue regulate debt that predation means impacts greater than those that would normally be expected from an activity being accomplished in compliance with current standards and regulations based on sound practices including the use of the best resembling of a liberal technology the definition now in this h r twenty two sixty to reinstate the clinton era change to regulations governing hardrock mining on federal lands that was rescinded in two thousand and one after a very open public review of the clinton regulatory scheme the clinton era definition for own undue degradation what specifically rejected it was rejected by the bureau of land management environmental mental impact statement that reviewed the clinton regulations and declared it to be too vague and too subjective the b l m process included scoping for the eyes which included a formal eighty one day comment period and nineteen public meetings in twelve cities placing the proposed regulations drafty ins and related documents on the evans internet website and finally to public comment periods where the highest including twenty nine public hearings in sixteen cities after this very thorough process the b l m found that this definition was essentially an opportunity for the secretary of interior to deny a mining company an operating permit even though the proposed mining operation would be in full compliance with federal and state laws governing hardrock mining this is what some people refer to as the mine veto the bill o m found that the requirement to avoid irreparable harm to significant resources values which cannot be effectively mitigated has the greatest potential for affecting mining activities both large and small in some cases this provision could preclude operations altogether in the clinton era regulations were spearheaded by secretary of interior bruce babbitt and solicitor john leslie during the elko nevada field hearings this past summer majority leader senator harry reid made the following statements regarding the outcome of the changes to the regulation bruce babbitt is a friend of mine but for the mining he was awful that's what harry reid said this year it was in one of the hearings that we've had referred to today he had people there that john leslie he tried to destroy mining really he didn't believe in it he wanted it gone and that created uncertainty this new definition for a new regulation is a lawyer's dream creating ambiguity fighting about whether we mine instead of how we we don't need more litigation we need more common sense this definition brings so much uncertainty the regulatory process that we will see a further decline in investments in the exploration and development of our domestic mineral resources and there is a potential when mines that are in production today transitioned into the new system outlined in title three or are in the permitting process to expand their operations that those operations could be denied a license to operate leaving billions of dollars of infrastructure idle again i can guarantee you that the coal industry which is plagued by so and which has played such an important role in the economic well being of the chairman's district would not be able to operate under this definition this definition alone will drive more companies offshore making us more dependent on foreign sources of mineral resources in that verse and peck impacting the economic vitality of mining dependent communities in the west in mexico keep in mind that the mining industry pays the highest non supervisory wages in the country it provides benefits including health care retirement programs cut scholarships and assistance for employees and their families tourism correct creation jobs cannot compete with these high paying family wage jobs i would urge you to vote yes on this amendment keeping the current standard protecting american jobs and access to domestic mineral resources deal back on time and six by west virginia michigan rising opposition to the mammoth tell us recognize the five minutes i would agree with my friend from new mexico and only the first three words of the statement he just legislation we struggled for many years to find a statutory standard by which hard rock mining on federal lands must comply with this bill states at mt manning must prevent degradation of public lands and resources that term is defined as a reparable harm to significant scientific cultural or environmental resources on public land that cannot be effectively mitigated and let me stress the use of the words that cannot be effectively mitigated it is common practice in this country to mitigate developments but it may be a construction of a highway a dam or a mine but under this bill if a man an operation could not be configured under any circumstance to effectively mitigate a reparable harm to say the water supply of a major city then the interior department would have the ability to just say no the gentleman from new mexico's amendment would strike the definition in the bill of this term the amendment would continue in one thousand nine hundred view that was fashioned in an era when there was no major metropolitan metropolitan is in the west that memet harkens back to an era that no longer exists this is a defining moment this is what we're talking about in the overall thrust of the pending legislation under this bill we will continue to have manning on federal lands i personally believe it will floor each but the bad actors in the industry the minority and i will be the first to readily admit admit it is a minority would no longer be allowed on the stage the responsible industry should be against this amendment because they're the ones as i said earlier that want some certainty to their planning decisions so that they can make the investment decisions necessary to run a responsible mining operation with the jobs attendant there to therefore i would urge opposition to the it is now in order to consider amendment number three printed in the house report one ten for sixteen well up purposes gentlewoman from california arise mr chairman i have an amendment at the de three printed in house report number one time dash four sixteen offered by ms net silly of california pursuant to house resolution seven eighty the gentlewoman from california ms tsui and a member oppose each will control five minutes the eligible to receive some of the clean up funding that we generated by this bill watershed as a crucial for the health of our nation they help move our goods preserve our ecosystems and protect our communities from flooding managing our nation's watershed in a holistic and responsible money is essential if we do not protect and maintain them we jeopardize critical parts of our environment to support commerce and recreation and aired states like california nevada and utah where  water shares an even more important to economic and environmental health watershed support a variety of agricultural economic and recreational activities in my home state of california for example the sacramento river watershed farmers a basis for fertile farmland thriving urban areas and outdoor recreational opportunities however many water shows are located near active an abandoned mine years ago rivers represent a great economic opportunity rivers are where many precious metals are located but the drive for these minerals has left a negative environmental legacy in nevada more than seven thousand tons of mercury were deposited into the carson river watershed during the quest for silver in the california foothills tens of thousands of mines were dug for gold that was discovered in a watershed running through my district more than four thousand of these abandoned mines pose environmental hazards we must protect these river water issues that are vital to our way of life that is why my nemesis needed mining to a great degree addressing these impacts requires a comprehensive management approach my member has crafted an offer today with this in mind it acknowledges that good water should management is a critical tool in maintaining our natural resources it recognizes by protecting watershed we're investing in a public good that all americans use and ensures that this public good will be maintained for future generations i urge all members to support my memory and i would think the general aid in california for yachting and for offering this very important amendment that does improve and enhance our ability to restore abandoned man lands and waters the underlying legislation would establish a band in hard rock mine reclamation fund which would be financed by the it my time to loners or gentleman from new mexico this chairman thank you and i appreciate the ladies comments with the gentleman opposed to the amendment i would take effect in all districts and i would say is a myth that we have a chart here which shows that rising commodity prices are driving people stealing copper or stealing our minerals and it occurring in many of the districts including within the gentle light is district in california where there's been a prosecution and we've got eighty of these we have a chart but i want to show that the concept of cleaning up abandoned mine lands is one that that we are deeply encouraged by and and associate ourselves with and especially as it affects watersheds know where our watersheds more important than in the west and especially new mexico because  so little water exists throughout the west we think that anything that we can do to clean up watersheds in general but again the mining mining lands the abandoned mine lands is something that we're very supportive of from this side it relates back to  the comments that we made in our our opening statement that i don't think that on the core issues that we're very far apart at all that we could have gotten where we all would agree with with with the bill and so we would accept the amendment important to my constituent yes as many of us are aware bannan mine lancer the unfortunate legacy of irresponsible mining practices of the past fortunately mining operations today are held accountable for their practices the bad practices of the past ended we have an opportunity to focus on cleaning up the abandoned mine lands and the amendment i am offering will do just that my member will direct half of the revenues deposited in the hard rock reclamation fund to states for the purposes of abandoned mine land remediation while preserving the federal government's ability to fund the national priorities in the bill my amendment allows the federal government to distribute half of the funds as it sees fit the other half of the funds would go proportionately to states where production is occurring to fund in place successful animal programs and multiple committee hearings we heard that states currently do a great job of remediating abandoned mine land site they often are only limited by their available resources to conduct remediation projects and to get some of your perspective on how affected state programs are nevada has a den of fide more than twenty thousand a m l sites in need of remediation still in the process of course of identifying more the good news is that today we've secured more than nine thousand of those sites likewise in colorado it is estimated that there are about twenty three thousand abandoned mines  more than six thousand have been made safe by the state division of reclamation mining and safety so in an effort to get money on the ground to remediate abandon mine land sites quickly and efficiently portion of these funds needed  to be dedicated to states where production is occurring given that many states have already parar prioritize their m l needs we should get funding to them as directly as possible as quickly as possible this change this amendment will  expedite the clean up process that we all want my amendment bolsters the ability of states to continue their good work on the ground while providing a way to remediate historic hardrock sites in states where mineral production will not generate sufficient funds to deal with gentlemen's recognize the five minutes mr chairman during debate in committee over this legislation the gentleman from nevada conduct himself in a manner which how he commanded he offered amendments that were aimed at addressing the concerns and interests of his state and his district and frankly i recognize he has a most at stake here representing nevada the largest coal producing state in the nation german offered two amendments one is offering today was one of those amendments in committee i could not accept it because we had no had no discussions on it prior to it appearing as an amendment but we did offer to continue to work with the gentleman from nevada as we have done and after having some time to consider the subject matter of his amendment i am going to accept it and i would urge mark colleagues to do likewise this amendment would allocate fifty percent of the revenues received in the proposed new abandon hardrock reclamation fun back to the revenues would be used by the federal government for national priorities so in conclusion i say the gentleman from nevada you are looking after your state apre shape that i commend you for it and i appreciate the manner in which you have a chairman and i want to express my appreciation to the chairman of natural resource committee again thanking him for his respect and efforts on this particular bill and hard work and giving me time and efforts for my comments and concerns that i share during the committee offered therefore it is now in order to consider a member number six printed in house report one ten four sixteen for the purpose of the gentleman from utah arise thank you mr chairman i have an amendment at the  women the number six printed in house report number one candidates for sixteen offered by mr cannon of utah pursuant to house resolution seventy eight a gentleman from utah mr cannon and a member of post each will control five minutes and and it is now at the floor it has been done with grace and with dignity and i appreciate the gentleman's approach we come from very very different districts i have over about  two thirds of my state is public lands very little of the gentleman state is propaganda so we differ we have a different approach and i think that's very appropriate just as the gentleman pointed out in regard to mr heller in his district so we have we have differences we come at these things differently and that context i hope that the gentleman will consider accepting my and then and on the other hand that our colleagues here today will recognize the importance of this amendment my amendment would strike section five seventeen of the bill before us the members necessary so common consumer products remain affordable a section five hundred is not stricken americans will see an increase in the cost of everyday products such as glass ceramics paper plastics rubber detergents insulation cosmetics and pharmaceuticals to name just a few section five seventeen deals with common varieties of industrial minerals unfortunately this provision would put industrial minerals that are clearly identifiable as unique and best locatable under the mining law into this category despite existing law that is labeled them as locatable industrial minerals have been classified as locatable since one thousand eight hundred seventy two under the general mining law these minerals were never intended to be included in the minerals material mineral materials act and the minute mineral materials act was does was designed to deal with book sales of common deposits of sand and gravel moving industrial minerals into the mineral materials act would make it impossible for these minimum sheryl's act minerals are deposited or deposed of by noncompetitive processes for small quantities and by competitive bidding contracts for terms of ten years or less however it can take fifty years to extract industrial minerals and the investment for doing that tends to be in the fifty one hundred million dollars range competitive bidding contracts of a maximum of ten years were ruined any incentive by industrial many mineral companies to research and explore for new reserves after spending resort has discovered serves and is also awarded the contract the company will not be guaranteed the necessary time to actually extract the minerals and develop the resource this will force our mining industry to move overseas and will result in materials such as sandstone and gravel on federal lands and provided and provided that they could be sold under contracts however a loophole was inserted into the wall under this loophole if the sandstone or gravel wasn't uncommon variety it would remain under the mining of eight hundred seventy two now determining just what an uncommon variety is has since cost the american taxpayers countless millions of dollars in litigation the legislation before us today eliminates a distinction in confusion and we would make all of these men are all materials available through sales contracts the gentleman's amendment from utah which strike that provision in essence a gentleman's amendment would continue to allow uncommon varieties of mineral materials to be claimed under the mining law as revised by this legislation i'm not sure the realizes that the reason it would be for these uncommon variety mining claims to be then subject to the bill's royalty regime and the bills environmental standards as such if we have dotted the gentlemen's amendment an eight percent royalty would then be slapped on any future production from these uncommon variety claims b that is it may oppose this amendment first the  receive a return from the deposition disposition of mineral materials through the sales contract moreover this distinction between uncommon and common varieties as sandstone and gravel is nothing but a scam our well we call as does a gentleman from oregon our colleague peter de fazio the great sand scam at the oregon dunes national recreation area i conducted a subcommittee hearing in oregon on this issue one person plastered mining claims over seven hundred eighty acres of the recreation areas rather seven hundred eighty areas of the recreation area where the hearing was held claiming the sand was uncommon as i recall his contention was that it had unique sil virtues for making glass he then demanded eleven million dollars from the federal government to buy him out i well recall the stone washing gene scam where this guy located mining claims for pumice in a wild scenic river in new mexico he claimed that pumice was an uncommon variety because you could produce a stone washed jeans with it give me a break i think the german gets the idea and just because some special interest lobbyist got this loophole inserted in the federal law in one nine jennifer west virginia has a right to hello and that is let me just take a couple moments and make a couple of points in the remainder of the time that i have a yield that to myself in the first place i believe that what the gentleman was just talking about was metallurgic l grade silica and different from the the summary we've just had i think the in response to his main argument it is an amazing comment on the bulk of this bill that the producers of industrial metals prefer to be under the new  regime and to be under the uncertainty that would be created and which is required where we they need certainty to develop minerals over fifty years instead of ten years and so while the gentlemens comet is well taken i would suggest to him that the industry actually prefers my amendment regardless of the fact that it incurs these other burdens and i would take and finally exception to the reference to this is a scam the fact that we don't have tax dollars coming to the treasury based upon reserves that are being developed does not mean that americans aren't better off because they have lower prices for paper which requires kaylin and a common clay not common it's a locatable clay that makes paper cheaper so it is this is a matter of policy it is not a matter of scams and i urge my colleagues to recognize that to recognize the burdens that this would create on very common products that we were produced with these look at real minerals and a vote in support of mine th therefore the gentleman from utah is a man it would merely continue allowing without brought these men paid and allow being a man for free these uncommon varieties of sandstone and gravel the in m from federal lands so i would urge opposition to the amendment and you'll back down to my time whole time is expired the question is on a green to the amendment bills in favor say aye opposed say no in the opinion of the chairs number seven printed in house report one ten four sixteen for what purposes gentlemen from new mexico arise chairman i have an amendment that the desk clerk will designate the amendments and then the number seven printed in house report number one ten dash for and would feel myself one minute the chairman i would like to start talking about first what this amendment is not first of all it is not the cost increase c b o t has said there will be no cost associated with it also it is not an effort to re establish the bureau of mines at the department of interior congress abolish the bureau of mines before i came to congress but a key component of that agency the minerals information team was entrusted to the u s geological service steps below the secretary of interior in contrast the energy information administration is only one step below the secretary of energy at the oh i minerals information is just about like being a janitor you have about that much function away from us d s and create some funds a standalone agency using vo resources it restores and fund the function congress ought to retain and protect in one nine hundred ninety five and would reserve the balance of my time german reserves in full committee markup and debate on it at that time when it was offered in committee advising that it did not belong in this bill and perhaps should be considered as a standalone piece of legislation subject of a hearing we've not conducted hearing yet on this matter as i said in committee i do remind back colleagues on the other sad that when newt gingrich and company issued their contract on america that she's met with america one of its tenets was to reduce the federal bureaucracy what the republican majority ultimately achieved in this regard was an emanation of two federal entities the assy c the interstate commerce commission which was then recreated as the s t b within a transportation department and the other federal entity at the republic and then republican majority eliminated was a bureau of mines at the interior department now in a stunning reversal the bureau of mines would be he created would essentially be recreated under the guise of a mineral commodity information agency i guess you'd call that m c i it would enlarge the bureaucracy increase federal spending i repeat that it would enlarge the federal bureaucracy and increase spending i keep looking around for my colleague from arizona mr flake where are you when we need you the gentleman's amendment would authorize thirty million dollars a year this new bureaucracy would have an associate administrator it would have four assistant administrator zz there would be an external affairs office a public affairs office even an international affairs office and who knows how many other offices here and there the budget financial human resources offices the human capital management office the professional development office the contract management office  you get the picture so this is a whole lot of bureaucracy that would be created based on a proposal that never had a hearing and was rejected by the republicans when they were in the majority i urged to feed them and reserve the bounce amount that  minerals commodity information administration at the department of interior interior the mit collects and disseminates data on virtually every commercially important nonfuel mineral commodity produced worldwide information that is critical to businesses the government and importantly the department of defense to help manage the national defense stockpile due to the importance of the data the mit should be an independent agency reporting to the secretary of the interior this information from the mit is critical to the effective use of the nation's natural resources and for accurate forecasting without a reliable source of world wide commodity information the us would be blind to any impending supply shortages one of the most fundamental functions of the federal government is to provide for the common defense there is an undeniable nexus between our nation's minerals policy and national security policy currently twenty four strategic and critical military materials are imported at no less than forty percent from our foreign trading partners for example the us imports fifty four percent of its magnesium this manner all is vitally important in constructing airplanes and missiles requiring our military to import the strategic and critical minerals needs from foreign nations some of whom may be hostile puts our military at a significant disadvantage and weakens our ability to adequately sustain our national defense at a time when defense needs are determined in terms of capabilities based planning instead of threat based planning and accurate assessment of our nation's minerals is vitally important the pierce rock act amendment is a means to the and i urge that we did get into the discussion of cvo here in the additional cost that would be implemented under this act the underlying act actually has been scored that four hundred forty one million dollars by cvo over five years almost one hundred million dollars a year i share the gentleman's concerned about about increasing expenditures increasing bureaucracy and would again request that we reconsider the entire thing but in the most at the moment i would suggest that we do want to revise that to recent national research council reports stress that we are increasingly dependent on foreign nations for minerals critical to america and that we need to have an independent agency as called for in this rock act amendment my amendment will establish the end appendant minerals and commodities and information administration and the minerals information team to collect analyze and disseminate information on the domestic and international supply and demand for minerals mineral crittur mineral critical those materials critical to the u s economy and our national security u s businesses operate in a global economy and virtually every manufacturing sector from aviation to textiles relies on the unbiased comprehensive data reported by the mit this information enables american companies to use domestic resources affectively forecast worldwide market conditions develop and forms to achi amendment is unnecessary the country does not need a new bureau to create minerals information the current situation in which the u s geological survey administers the minerals information works perfectly fine as chairman of the interior and environment appropriations subcommittee i've examined the bush administration proposals to eliminate funding for the u s g s minerals information function even during these difficult budgetary times our subcommittee has appreciated the important function of the minerals assessment team at the u s g s and refused the administration's recommendation to eliminate its funding the pierce amendment would nearly double the size of the new agency it would create a new bureaucracy with at least three hundred staff and the s very effectively and it's just one of those things that is not needed i think it would be a big mistake to put it back in place that we the amendment provides for three two hundred employees the u s s take them away from where they're doing a great job the mining programs have worked very effectively since nine hundred ninety five the time at which we eliminated this it saves about one hundred million dollars and i think would be a big mistake to put another put it back in place i hope that the members will join me in opposing this a man i appreciate joe most commonly use a gentle yield to the gentleman from california i i rise in strong opposition to this amendment and strong support of h r twenty two sixty two and i want to congratulate the sponsor our chairman mr ray hall for bringing this measure to the floor and i do want to congratulate the chairman for doing an outstanding job as one of my cl of new mexico a member number six by mr cannon of utah the chair will reduce to two minutes the time for any electronic vote after the first vote in this series you have finished business is a request for record a vote on a member number two printed in house report one ten four sixteen by the gentleman from new mexico mr appears on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the nose prevailed by voice vote read designate the amendment and then the number two printed in house report number one ten dash four sixteen zero for by mr pearce of new mexico a recorded vote has been requested those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted sufficient number having risen a record of voters ordered those in favor the a member will vote a those will oppose will vote no members will be caught their votes by alec tronic the vice this will be a fifteen minute vote