21 July, 1999

DON'T LEGALIZE MASSIVE MINE WASTE DUMPS ON PUBLIC LANDS

CALL YOUR SENATOR **NOW** TO SUPPORT THE MURRAY-DURBIN AMENDMENT TO STRIKE

VOTE MAY COME TOMORROW

Thursday, the Senate Interior Appropriations (S1292) bill is coming to the Senate floor for debate. When it does, Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), and Richard Durbin (D-IL) will offer an amendment to strike Larry Craig's (R-ID) anti-environmental mining rider from the bill. Please call your senator and ask them to support the Murray amendment to strike.

The Murray-Durbin amendment would strip the Craig anti-environmental mining rider supported by the mining industry. The Craig rider would further weaken the outdated 1872 Mining Law, making it worse by legalizing waste dumping on valuable public lands. Craig's rider would weaken a law that already allows taxpayer giveaways of gold and silver to mining companies ($240 billion worth since 1872), allows public land giveaways (an area the size of the state of Connecticut), leads to acid lakes (over 180,000 acres worth) and acid streams (over 12,000 miles of our nation's waterways), and allows mining companies priority use of public lands.

Why Does the Industry Want This Rider?

The massive waste piles produced at many of today's cyanide heap-leach mines are too big. The mining industry produces more waste than all other industries and municipalities combined! Much of it is hazardous. The industry wants more public land to be given to mining companies for massive piles of mining waste. The planned rider would essentially legalize waste dumping that is now illegal, amounting to a new land grab.

Let's Protect Our Public Lands

The mining industry shouldn't get any more special favors or back room deals. What's needed isn't a riderized special deal to permit more mine waste on public lands but a new, reformed mining law that protects the taxpayer and our public lands.

Don't Accept Any Compromises

Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) is attempting to negotiate a "compromise" on the mining rider. His compromise is no compromise at all. It would exempt grandfathered patent applications, it would exempt expansions to existing mines, it could exempt already proposed mines. By one estimate, Reid's alternative would exempt over 50% of all new hardrock mineral extraction.

What you can do!

Call, fax and/or email your Senator immediately (call the Capitol Switchboard at 202.224.3121 and ask for your Senator). Tell them ---

* Stand up and support the Murray-Durbin amendment to the Interior Appropriations bill.

* Don't Accept Any False "Compromises"

* Don't Legalize Massive Waste Dumping on Public Lands and Don't Make the 1872 Mining Law Worse.

* Don't Accept Any Anti-Environmental Riders

For More Information:

Call Mineral Policy Center at 202.887.1872, or visit our web page at

http://www.mineralpolicy.org.

Mineral Policy Center (MPC) is the leading national environmental organization working to protect communities and the environment from the impacts of hardrock mining.

===Mineral Policy Center Working to Protect Communities and the Environment===

1612 K St., NW, Suite 808 Washington, D.C. 20006

202-887-1872 (ph) / 202-887-1875 (fax)

web: www.mineralpolicy.org / email: mpc@mineralpolicy.org

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