I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3419
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to dispose of certain public lands 
that are subject to mining operations in Pershing County, Nevada, to 
support sustainable development opportunities for the community in 
which the mining operations occur through privatization of the lands 
allowing for productive post-mining land use that provides for economic 
development opportunities and local government revenues, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 25, 2005
Mr. GIBBONS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Resources 
A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to dispose of certain 
public lands that are subject to mining operations in 
Pershing County, Nevada, to support sustainable devel-
opment opportunities for the community in which the 
mining operations occur through privatization of the 
lands allowing for productive post-mining land use that 
provides for economic development opportunities and 
local government revenues, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Northern Nevada Sus-
tainable Development in Mining Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) In the past decade, the concept of ‘‘sustain-
able development’’ has become standard United 
States and international policy. 
(2) Sustainable development is environmentally 
sound and is undertaken in a way that meets the 
needs of the present without compromising the abil-
ity of future generations to meet their needs. 
(3) Federal land managers have worked with 
the mining industry and other industries over the 
past decade to develop sustainability principles for 
resource development on Federal lands, but there is 
a need to demonstrate and implement these prin-
ciples. 
(4) For the mining industry, a prime goal of 
sustainable development is to plan and implement 
economically viable and productive post-mining land 
uses that will allow lands impacted by mining to 
continue providing jobs and other economic benefits 
beyond the completion of mining activity. Privatiza-
tion of the surface at mine sites is a crucial compo-
nent in achieving and maintaining sustainable devel-
opment opportunities for a mining operation’s host 
community. 
(5) With more than 80 percent of Nevada’s 
lands in Federal ownership, the State’s rural com-
munities in particular depend on continued produc-
tive uses of Federal lands for jobs, tax revenues, and 
economic development. 
(6) Mining on Nevada’s public lands is the most 
important source of high-paying jobs and other eco-
nomic benefits to rural Nevada communities. Mining 
on Nevada public lands also provides substantial tax 
revenues to the Treasury and to State and local gov-
ernments. 
(7) The Rochester Mine, located in Pershing 
County, Nevada, provides an excellent opportunity to 
demonstrate sustainable development principles in 
the mining industry. 
(8) The Rochester Mine, operated by Coeur 
Rochester, Inc., opened in 1986 and employs 250 
people, most of whom live in or near Lovelock, Ne-
vada. The mine operates on patented lands and ap-
proximately 7,000 acres of public lands subject to 
mining claims and impacted by the mining oper-
ation.
(9) For its 20 years of operation, the Rochester 
Mine has been the major source of employment for 
Pershing County residents. 
(10) The Rochester Mine is near the end of its 
productivity, and closure and reclamation of the 
mine are expected to begin within 5 years, subject 
to closure and reclamation plans to be approved by 
the Secretary of the Interior and the State of Ne-
vada. Given ore grades and exploration results in the 
area, Coeur Rochester, Inc. does not contemplate 
any future mining at the site. 
(11) Without a post-mining land use for the 
Rochester Mine or entry of a new industry, Pershing 
County faces significant and destabilizing unemploy-
ment and loss of tax revenues when the Rochester 
Mine closes. 
(12) Coeur Rochester, Inc. has developed an in-
novative plan for post-mining land uses of the Roch-
ester Mine site, including reuse of the mine’s over-
burden and waste rock as aggregate in California 
and other markets, and potential use of the mine 
site as a State-permitted landfill for municipal or in-
dustrial wastes or construction debris. 
(13) The public lands subject to mining claims 
at the Rochester Mine are difficult and uneconomical
for the Bureau of Land Management to manage be-
cause of the checkerboard pattern of Federal land 
ownership in the vicinity of the Rochester Mine. 
(14) Disposal of such lands will also serve other 
important public objectives, including the demonstra-
tion of viable and productive post-mining land uses 
and of other sustainable development concepts in the 
mining industry. The project would also facilitate 
the creation of a new long-term employment source 
and would result in other important economic devel-
opment benefits and the maintenance of a tax base 
for Pershing County. 
(15) The Bureau of Land Management has de-
termined that the public lands addressed in this Act 
are suitable for consolidation of ownership or dis-
posal into private ownership. 
(16) Lands to be conveyed under this Act would 
remain subject to applicable Federal and State envi-
ronmental, land use, and safety laws. 
(17) Any lands disposed of by the Secretary 
pursuant to this Act would be sold at $500 per acre. 
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to implement a sustainable development 
project in Pershing County, Nevada;