GOP chairman seeks review of Obama mining bans

Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) is asking for the Trump administration to re-evaluate the Obama administration’s bans on mineral mining on certain federal lands.

Bishop, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, wrote to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Thursday to ask for a “comprehensive and expedited” review of eight years of mineral withdrawals.

“Unfortunately, under the prior Administration, mineral access on Federal land was regularly and systematically blocked, harming our nation’s economic and strategic potential,” Bishop wrote to the secretaries.

{mosads}

“Indeed, millions of acres of Federal lands were inappropriately withdrawn from mineral access due to false premises of environmental protectionism and the intentional misuse of statutory authority,” he continued.

He cited as an example a decision in January by the Obama administration to ban mining on a swath of federal land in southwestern Oregon for 20 years, blocking potential nickel, scandium and cobalt mining.

Bishop wants Zinke and Perdue to review whether that withdrawal and others aligns with the Federal Lands Policy Management Act, which encourages the federal government to receive “fair market value for the use of the public lands and their resources.”

“I remain committed to ensuring the public, including industry, has access to our public lands,” Bishop concluded.