CO "Stakes Its Claim" On Mining Reform in Washington This Week
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Denver, CO - Colorado has a big stake in the outcome of hard-rock mining reform being considered in Congress. That's what the Mayor of Crested Butte, Colorado, and others plan to tell federal lawmakers at a Thursday hearing about updating a mining law that's been in place since the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant.
Crested Butte Mayor Alan Bernholtz says a project proposed under the 1872 law currently threatens Crested Butte.
"The project sits one mile from our town, right in our watershed, as well as the habitat that's surrounding that area would be off-use from how we're using it now, as a public recreation area. What would happen is, we'd have a mine dump instead."
Bernholtz describes the reason he feels the "archaic" law needs to be reformed sooner than later.
"Protect towns like Crested Butte from big conglomerate companies coming in and taking them over and ruining their recreational uses."
Mike Van Abel is with the International Mountain Biking Association. He says reforming the law is critical to protecting the outdoor experiences that draw people to Colorado, and he's convinced there's a way to "have our cake and eat it too."
"In fact, we understand the need for mineral extraction, but bringing some balance and a sense of conservation to those practices is needed."
Mining claims in Colorado have increased by more than 200 percent in recent years, leading to a renewed call for reform of the law, which was drafted in an era before environmental impacts were considered in the West.
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