Letter: Babbitt’s changes unfair to miners

Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2001 | 9:22 a.m.

I object to the massive changes to the mining laws that Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt proposed just prior to leaving office.

Many of us are small-scale prospectors, miners and recreational prospectors trying to work with the system as it has worked for over 150 years. His over-regulation of small-scale miners is another attempt to push through regulations based upon rhetoric rather than scientific evidence.

Babbitt's successor, Gale Norton, should remove the changes he has tried to enact despite the fact he was told by Congress not to do so. Please bring common sense back to government and stop what has happened over the past eight years.

DANIEL GREEN, Vice president, Gold Searchers of Southern Nevada

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