Nevada drops mining suit after BLM eases policy

Friday, Nov. 30, 2001 | 10:07 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The state has dropped its lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management after the agency changed a regulation that state officials said would cripple the mining industry.

The state in January joined the National Mining Association and Newmont Mining Corp. in filing separate federal lawsuits in Washington challenging the rule, which was adopted in late 2000.

Gov. Kenny Guinn and Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said Thursday that the state has scrapped its suit because the BLM made significant changes to the regulation.

The BLM's own environmental impact statement said the regulation would mean a loss of 6,000 jobs in the mining industry, a decrease in total income of $396 million and a reduction in industry production of $877 million.

Guinn said he was concerned the proposed regulations would most affect hard rock mining in Nevada.

Del Papa said the suit challenged a provision in the rules that would have permitted the BLM to veto any new proposed mining activity on federal lands that would cause "substantial irreparable harm." She said that was a new standard that was not yet defined and authorized by law. That section was deleted in the amended regulations the BLM issued Oct. 30 this year.

The new regulation also deleted a section that authorized civil fines for violation of mine reclamation regulations and amended a provision on joint and severable liability among claimants and operators for reclamation and other costs.

Guinn praised Del Papa for filing the suit, and said it "was an important factor in the BLM's decision to alter these regulations." Del Papa said the state successfully made its case that the regulations could harm the state.