Environmentalists are raising concerns that Democrats' scaled-back plan to require royalty payments from hardrock mines as part of broad mining reform legislation will undermine the bill's goal of funding the reclamation of abandoned mine sites and are vowing to seek opportunities to strengthen the legislation when it reaches the House floor. House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall (D-WV) surprised environmentalists backing the bill when he unveiled Oct. 16 a substitute amendment to his mining reform legislation, H.R. 2262, exempting existing mining operations from the section of the legislation that would have imposed an 8 percent royalty on their gross income. Under the substitute amendment, the royalty requirement would only apply to new mining operations. One source says the Rahall substitute could have delayed significant deposits into the reclamation fund between five and ten years.
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