07/28/2009
Date: 7/29/2009
Access Fund provided testimony for the July 14 legislative hearing on the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2009 on behalf of the Outdoor Alliance, a coalition of six national, member-based organizations devoted to conservation and stewardship of our nation’s public lands and waters through responsible human-powered outdoor recreation. More information on the Outdoor Alliance.
The testimony encourages legislators to focus hardrock mining reform on three fundamental areas: (1) creating a fair royalty system to fund abandoned mine cleanup; (2) environmental protection standards that explicitly recognize the value of our public lands beyond what can be extracted by mining interests; and (3) protecting federal lands that have exceptional non-extractive value, such as National Conservation Areas, Wild and Scenic River corridors and Inventoried Roadless Areas from future mining activity.