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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Cleaning Up CO's Past and Present - Mining Reform Bill Drops in DC

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Wednesday, January 28, 2009   

Washington, D.C. - Much of Colorado's early history centers around mining, and now Congress is looking to update the hardrock mining laws that have been in place and remained virtually unchanged since before the Centennial State joined the union. A bill to reform the 1872 mining law was introduced Tuesday, just as a new report was released, outlining the way mining subsidies could cost taxpayers more than $1.5 billion in the next decade.

Velma Smith, manager of the Pew Campaign for Responsible Mining, which issued the report, says it's clear that the time for change is long overdue.

"Fundamentally, we're going with pretty much the same policies that we had back in 1872, just a little bit after the Civil War. It was quite a different day."

The new House bill would create royalties for mining like those that oil, gas and coal companies already pay. Mining companies say the royalties and other proposed fees are too high, and could lead to smaller operations and lay-offs.

Smith suspects the companies can cut back in other areas, and says a proposed reclamation fee in the bill would be used to clean up the many abandoned mine sites in Colorado and other states, creating many new jobs. She adds that plenty of other industries pay their share of royalties and do just fine. She explains the reforms are about fairness and will also improve the quality of life in Colorado.

"We'll be making a good investment in clean water for the future, and in improved communities."

Smith notes there are plenty of sites in Colorado that could use the cleanup funds.

"We need to go in and do clean up and reclamation, and provide for treating water. We can employ people by cleaning up from the past."

If the reforms pass and are signed in to law, much of the responsibility for implementing them will fall to former Colorado Senator and new Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.


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