THE 0 THE THE BR RESS SSI .1534 SUBCOMMITTEE ON MINERALS, MATERIAL, AND FUELS ERNEST GRUENING, Alaska, Chairman HENRY M. JACKSON, Washington ALAN BIBLE, Nevada FRANK E. MOSS, Utah LEN B. JORDAN, Idaho GEORGE MCGOVERN, South Dakota II RVS 7Ja 66 CONTENTS REPORTS STATEMENTS Ahern, Jack, manager, Montana Travertine Quarries- Anderson, McKinley, Attorney for Montana Travertine Quarries--- Connors, E. B., manager, exploration and development, Kaiser Cement & Davies, Parker, Bureau of Land Management_ Greeley, Arthur, Deputy Chief, Forest Service, Department of Agriculture; Hand, William M., Dillon, Mont_. Keim, James W., representing the Northern Pacific Railroad_ Larison, L. H., president, American Chemet Corp-- Lively, Leonard, president, Southwestern Montana Mining Association-- Maloney, W. G., secretary-manager, Mining Association of Montana___ Metcalf, Hon. Lee, a U.S. Senator from the State of Montana_ Sahinen, Uuno M., associate director, Montana Bureau of Mines and Seely, Brad, president, Treasure State Industries, Inc. COMMUNICATIONS Barry, Frank J., Solicitor, Department of the Interior: Letter to J. Allen Overton, Jr., executive vice president, American Mining Congress, dated 86 35, 85 8 40 122 Carr, James K., Acting Secretary of the Interior: Letter to Hon. Wayne 125 109 Gruening, Hon. Ernest, chairman Minerals, Materials, and Fuels Sub- Jackson, Hon. Henry M., chairman, Interior and Insular Affairs Committee: Freeman, Hon. Orville L., Secretary of Agriculture, dated September Sahinen, Uuno M., associate director, Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology: Letter to W. H. Porter, American Chemet Corp., Helena, Mont., ADDITIONAL INFORMATION "How To Lose Your Mining Claim," editorial from the Mining and Natural Patents; Procedure to obtain, section 29, United States Code_ COMMON VARIETIES ACT FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 1965 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON MINERALS, MATERIALS, AND FUELS Butte, Mont. The Subcommittee on Minerals, Materials, and Fuels of the Senate Interior and Insular Affairs Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m. in the Silver Bow County Courthouse at Butte, Mont., Senator Ernest Gruening presiding. Present: Senators Ernest Gruening, of Alaska, and Lee Metcalf, of Montana. Also present: Stewart French, chief counsel. Senator GRUENING. The hearing will come to order. Gentlemen, first, let me express the appreciation of the Subcommittee on Minerals, Materials, and Fuels to Judge John B. McClernan for the use of this courtroom. We hope that our hearing will live up to the high standards of justice which Judge McClernan is known to dispense. We will do our best to live up to that standard. This is an open, public hearing by the Minerals, Materials, and Fuels Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs on Public Law 167 of the 84th Congress. This law is popularly known by the various titles of "The Common Varieties Act," or "Materials Act," or "Multiple Use Act." Although this is a Minerals, Materials, and Fuels Subcommittee hearing and I am chairman of that subcommittee in the Senatewe have the good fortune to have with us the able junior Senator from Montana, Lee Metcalf, who, of course, needs no introduction to a Montana group. As a result of the vagaries of selection of subcommittee membership, Senator Metcalf does not happen to be on the Minerals, Materials, and Fuels Subcommittee, although he is a member of the full committee. Lee Metcalf is recognized throughout Congress, and, indeed, throughout the executive branch as well, as an expert on mining law, and is a Senator keenly aware of, and deeply sympathetic toward, the problems of mining men-particularly those of the small, independent miner. In fact, it was Lee Metcalf himself who was the spark plug that brought about these hearings. On my left is Stewart French, the chief counsel of the Interior Committee, an attorney who is extremely knowledgeable, also, in mining matters. As some of you may know, last year Lee Metcalf urged me to hold these hearings and in all good faith I agreed to do so. However, the civil rights legislation required our continued presence in Washington, and then there were the national party political conventions and election campaign in which both Senator Metcalf and I took an active part. 1 2 COMMON VARIETIES ACT Our hearing today is on the law itself, Public Law 167, 84th gress, which is found, as amended, in title 30 of the United S Code, beginning with section 601, and with its administration operation under the Bureau of Land Management and the F Service. I might say, parenthetically, that I am a member of the Comm on Government Operations and chairman of one of its subcommi This is the unit of the Senate that looks into the administrati the laws and the operations of the executive branch in general. it might be said that I am wearing two hats here today, or the have two strings to our bow, so to speak. Since the provisions of the law, as well as its interpretation administration by the Departments of the Interior and Agricul of which the National Forest Service is a part, are before us as a su for inquiry and exploration, I will direct that the text of Public 167, as amended, and the regulations promulgated by the Secre of the Interior for its administration, be printed in these hearing an appendix. These administrative guidelines are found in titl of the Code of Federal Regulations, part 185. Also, I will direct Senator Clinton Anderson's report on the bill, Senate bill 1713, of 84th Congress, which is the substance of the measure that bec the law, also be printed in the appendix. This is Senate Report 554, 84th Congress, filed on June 15, 1955. Senator Anderson's report explains the reasons for enactmen Public Law 167, and gives some of the background for the legislat I would like to quote, briefly, from this report. Senator Ander states that the purpose of the bill is *** to permit multiple use of the surface re ources of our public lands, to vide for their more efficient administration, and to amend the mining laws to tail abuses of those laws by a few individuals who usually are not miners. BR At the same time, the measure faithfully safeguards all of the rights and inter of bona fide prospectors and mine operators. In no way would it deprive the rights and means for development of the mineral resources of the public land the United States under the historic principles of free enterprise and private ow ship of the present mining laws. 4 I would like to emphasize those last two sentences by reading th over again. They are SSAY * * * *** the measure faithfully safeguards all of the rights and interests of b fide prospectors and mine operators. In no way would it deprive them of rig and means for development of the mineral resources of the public lands of United States under the historic principles of free enterprise and private owners of the present mining laws. 5546 R Unfortunately, from the correspondence I have seen, this cl intent of Congress in enacting Public Law 167 has at times apparen been somewhat more honored in the breach than in the observan However, it should be pointed out that the report goes on to s that *** the committee has received an increasing number of reports of grow abuses of the mining laws by persons whose primary interest in filing claims not mining. The most serious of these abuses is that relating to mining clai in national forests whereby claimants have been able to obtain a color of title hundreds of thousands of acres of valuable timber belonging to the people of United States at virtually no cost to themselves and subject to little control, fact, by the Forest Service. |