The following announcement was released today by Stuart A. Sanderson, President of the Colorado Mining Association:
“Today, the Colorado House of Representatives Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee voted to postpone indefinitely (kill) House Bill 08-1165. The sponsors of the amendment had agreed to limit the scope of the bill to amending the prospecting provisions only and, at today’s hearing, stated that they were removing the provisions authorizing local governments to veto or condition mining projects because county authority in this area was already substantial.
Following discussion and debate, the committee ultimately decided to kill the bill by a 7-6 vote. Voting in favor of the motion to PI the bill were Reps. McKinley, Hodge, McNulty, Sonnenberg, Rose, Gardner, and Looper. Because the committee killed the entire bill, it is likely that legislation will be introduced in the Senate, however, to amend the current requirements governing the confidentiality of notices of intent to conduct prospecting. Although there are no absolute guarantees, we believe that the bill will be limited to prospecting but will keep you apprised of further developments.
In offering to remove all but the prospecting provisions, the sponsors cited authority that already exists under the Colorado Land Use Act, the Colorado Land Use Control and Enabling Act, and the 1041 powers. The sponsors also assured the committee of their intention to limit floor consideration to prospecting only, and not to reintroduce the provisions on local control. They would also resist such amendments if offered.
I wish to thank Dianna Orf and the other industry lobbyists and representatives who were instrumental in making committee members aware of our concerns about this legislation. Thanks are also due to the counties and county organizations who wrote letters in opposition to the bill - Aron Diaz, Associated Governments of Northwest Colorado, Reeves Brown, Club 20, the folks at Action 22, Moffat and Teller Counties, along with Mesa county commissioner Steve Aquafresca. Equally important, I also wish to thank the CMA membership and those who participated in our standing committees; they responded to our call and spoke up in one united voice in opposition to the bill and in support of responsible mining.
We will now turn our attention to House Bill 1161 (which has passed the House and will be considered by a Senate committee in the near future) and on any prospecting bill. There is much work remaining to be done. CMA hopes to work cooperatively with our elected representatives in fashioning provisions that will address any legitimate environmental and citizen concerns, while making sure that Colorado law continues to provide for the orderly development of the state’s mineral resources. A news release is attached. I look forward to working with all of you during the remainder of this session.”
Stuart A. Sanderson
President
Colorado Mining Association
216 16th Street, Suite 1250
Denver, CO 80202
303/575-9199, fax 575-9194
This news comes on the heels of an anti-mining movement initiated by private groups up near Ft. Collins to try and block an in-situ uranium project proposed in Weld County. The bill was partially ill-written with redundancies that conflicted with current state law.
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