Northwest Mining Association sues Babbitt charging blatant disregard of citizens' rights.

SPOKANE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 12, 1997--Today, the Northwest Mining Association (NWMA) filed suit against Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to invalidate new bonding regulations governing hard rock mining activities on BLM administered land. The lawsuit charges that the new regulations were issued without the opportunity for those impacted by the regulations to comment publicly, as required by federal law.

NWMA Executive Director Laura Skaer said, "The mining industry is outraged that the BLM promulgated these rules without meaningful and timely public participation as required by the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and other federal laws. Secretary Babbitt continues to show contempt for those citizens who create new wealth, provide the nation's highest paid non supervisory wage jobs, and supply society with the products that make our standard of living possible."

NWMA is represented in the lawsuit by Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF), a nonprofit, public interest legal center. "Babbitt's new rules violate the citizens' right to be heard and demonstrate the disdain the Clinton Administration has for hard working small miners," William Perry Pendley, President of MSLF stated. "This lawsuit is about the right of the nation's miners and others to receive notice of and comment on the regulations by which they must live."

The complaint charges that Interior and the BLM acted arbitrarily and capriciously and violated the "notice and comment" requirements and the "basis and purpose" requirements of the APA by adopting final rules containing significant new provisions and substantially altered provisions from those proposed five and one-half years ago. There was no opportunity for public comment on the new and substantially altered provisions. The suit also alleges that Interior and the BLM violated the Regulatory Flexibility Act by using an unlawful definition of "small entity," failing to analyze adequately the economic impacts of the final bonding rule on small entities, and failing to describe the steps taken to minimize the economic impacts on small miners.

On January 6, 1997, Secretary Babbitt directed the BLM to form a task force to review the BLM's surface management regulations governing hard rock mining on BLM administered land, of which bonding requirements are an integral part. Federal law mandates public participation in that process. However, on February 28, 1997, Secretary Babbitt published new bonding regulations without public comment or review by Babbitt's new BLM task force.

Speaking on behalf of the mining industry, Skaer was adamant that, "industry is not opposed to providing financial guarantees or bonding for exploration and mining activities, as is now required by every western mining state. Mining supports reasonable bonding of mining activities as an assurance to the public that proper reclamation and closure will occur." NWMA recognizes the BLM's right to require reasonable reclamation and bonding for exploration and mining disturbance. However, Skaer continued, "we object to Secretary Babbitt undertaking stealth mining law reform that circumvents the will of the people and their elected representatives in Congress. At the very least, Secretary Babbitt should withdraw the new bonding regulations and include consideration of any changes as part of the BLM's review of its surface management regulations, already underway."

Currently, all mining on federal land is subject to more than three dozen federal environmental laws and regulations, including the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Endangered Species Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act and many others. Environmental laws in each of the Western mining states impose exacting controls on mining operations. Reclamation and bonding laws in every mining state mandate that mining companies clean up mining sites when their operations end. These laws, in conjunction with applicable federal law, ensure reclamation and protection of the environment.

The Northwest Mining Association is a 103-year-old, non-profit, non-partisan trade organization based in Spokane, Washington, with 2,900 members in 42 states. NWMA's purpose is to support and advance the mineral resource and related industries, to represent and inform members on technical, legislative and regulatory issues, to provide for the dissemination of educational materials related to mining, and to foster and promote economic opportunity and environmentally responsible mining.

Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF), a non-profit, public interest legal center dedicated to individual liberty, the right to own and use property, limited government, and the free enterprise system.

CONTACT: Northwest Mining Association

Laura E. Skaer, 509/624-1158

OR

Mountain States Legal Foundation

William Perry Pendley, 303/292-2021