Small Miners Relief Act a big victory for our state A laska’s miners have something to celebrate in S. 47, the John D. Dingell Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, which bundles together more than 120 public lands and age also includes a provision to allow Alaska Natives who served during the Vietnam War to receive the land allotments the federal government promised to them OPNLOP^ LRZ 4_ []ZaTOP^ ]Z`_TYR ʮPcTMTWT_d QZ] _SP
water bills and was recently signed into law by President Trump. Included in the new law is my Small Miners Re- lief Act, which will reinstate the mine claims of a number of Alaskans.
proposed natural gas pipeline. It ensures sportsmen and women retain access to appropriate federal lands for hunting, ʭ^STYRLYO]PN]PL_TZYLW^SZZ_TYR,YOT_ creates economic opportunities for com- munities like Kake and Utqiagvik. We built this package over the course of years of regular order process, fol- lowed by months of intensive negotia- tions among committee leadership. I’m proud that every provision added to it — particularly those related to conservation in the Lower 48 — had very strong sup- port at the state and local levels.
This is legislation I have worked on for ʭaPdPL]^bSTNSbTWW]TRS_LWZYR^_LYO - ing wrong and provide relief for placer miners who had their claims wrongfully taken more than a decade ago. Resolving _ST^TYP\`T_d_ZZVdPL]^ZQPʬZ]_M`_T_ is the right thing to do and speaks to a larger issue — Congress’ responsibility to step in when federal land manage- ment policies fail to recognize the needs of people and communities. Our next step will be to seek to address this issue more broadly by improving the small miner waiv- er process to ensure that due process is never again denied. We still need a more workable national pro- cess for miners with small operations to renew their claims, rather than facing termination of their mining rights without warning. The mine claim reinstatements are just one provi- ^TZYTY> "_SL_bTWWMPYPʭ_,WL^VL?SPWLYO^[LNV -
LISA MURKOWSKI
The result is a bill that drew 92 votes in the Sen- ate, 363 votes in the U.S. House, and the President’s signature. It is a real victory for Alaska and the placer miners who will have their claims reinstated. Lisa Murkowski is Alaska’s senior United States Senator and chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resourc- es Committee. Sen. Murkowski also serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, where she is the Chairman of the Interior and Environment Subcommittee.
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&PPMWWYIWSJ8LI&PEWOE2MRIV2EKE^MRIERH8LI Alaska Miner Journal are online at the Alaska Miners Association website: AlaskaMiners.org/publication.
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The Alaska Miner
April 2019
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