GOP chairman seeks review of Obama mining bans - The Hill

Rep. Rob BishopRobert (Rob) William BishopHouse Natural Resources chairman pledges to retire after next term Trump's monument plan still shrouded in secrecy Greens threaten lawsuit over potential monument reductions MORE (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 ZinkeRyan Keith ZinkeInterior Dept recommends reducing Bears Ears, other protected land: report Give tribes real authority in Bears Ears National Monument Trump moving toward energy exploration in Arctic wildlife refuge: report MORE and Agriculture Secretary Sonny PerdueGeorge (Sonny) Ervin PerduePut people ahead of profits in poultry Overnight Regulation: Supreme Court temporarily lifts restrictions on travel ban | WH to consider new rules after Equifax breach | Google appeals record EU fine Food assistance available for Texans after Hurricane Harvey, USDA says MORE 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.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Indeed, millions of acres of Federal lands were inappropriately withdrawn from mineral access due to false premises of environmental protectionism and the intentional misuse of statutory authority,” he continued.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