Steve Daines Warns Of Mine Closures In Montana Due To 'Checkerboard Federal Ownership' Of Land

3 hours ago

During a Senate Energy Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) spoke about the potential closure of mines in Montana due to complex land ownership regulations.

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Transcript

00:00Senator Jaynes

00:02Chairman, thank you. Talk about the Bull Mountains coal mine. This is a mine near Roundup, Montana

00:08Plays a crucial role in Montana's energy economy

00:11The mine employs 250 people

00:14These are high-paying jobs with good benefits generates over 90 million dollars a year in state local and

00:21federal taxes and revenues

00:24It is the lifeblood of Muscle Shell County

00:28Unfortunately, these jobs are now at risk and the life of the mine and the community it serves are in limbo

00:35It's because of the checkerboard federal ownership in Montana and as well as this long wall mining process

00:42This mine is running out of permitted coal and might be forced to close

00:47This is why I introduced Senate bill 362

00:50It's a targeted

00:52Short-term fix that allows the mining of very specific federal minerals to ensure that we have enough time

00:59To find a longer-term solution for the mine

01:03This bill simply allows the mine to continue mining the same materials it has for decades

01:09Under the same permit it's had for years

01:13Last Congress this committee passed this identical bill with a bipartisan vote. I

01:19Want to thank my colleagues in this committee for working with me to make that happen

01:23And I hope we can again pass this short-term fix. So these workers in Montana can continue to provide for their families

01:31Mining jobs saw a major hit in Montana over the last couple of years

01:37the Bull Mountains mine recently had to lay off dozens of hard-working Montana's because they've run out of permitted coal and

01:44Recently the Stillwater mine

01:47the United States only

01:50Platinum and palladium mine, which is used in catalytic converters to keep our air clean

01:56It recently laid off

01:59700

02:00Montanans

02:01We can't afford the loss of any more jobs for these Montana miners

02:06That's why we must pass this bill and get it on the president's desk

02:11Mr. Summers as the president of the Utah Mining Association

02:14You understand how vital the mining industry is to building jobs

02:19local communities now security tax revenues in

02:24Montana coal-fired plants provide the largest share of Montana's electricity generation

02:31accounting for 45% of

02:34Montana's in-state generation

02:37The coal industry not only supplies Americans with low-cost reliable and secure source of energy

02:44It's called baseload power

02:46but it also generates millions of dollars of

02:50Federal state and local revenue per year and creating hundreds of very good paying jobs in Montana

02:58Mr. Summers, can you speak to the importance of supporting our coal jobs in ensuring the coal mines?

03:04Like the Bull Mountains mine in Montana continues to provide revenue for our states as well as our counties

03:13Absolutely, thank you senator

03:15Utah is very similar to Montana and with regard to its coal industry. We also deal with checkerboard ownership. We deal with

03:23you know underground mines and the the planning that has to go into that and

03:27Like Montana the vast majority of our electricity is provided by by coal-fired generation

03:33I mentioned in my testimony that you know mining jobs on average in Utah pay about 46% more than the Utah average wage

03:40But when you go into our coal-producing counties that number can go actually go over a hundred percent

03:44So in many of our coal-producing counties, especially in central, Utah

03:48mining companies coal mining companies are by far the largest private employer and

03:53Provide very essential revenue and not just for the direct mining jobs

03:56But for all of the service jobs that go into to those particular industries

04:01And Utah in particular has that like Montana has made a very concerted effort to ensure that our coal mines stay healthy and also that

04:09our coal-fired

04:10generation plants are preserved and we're able to provide that essential baseload power so that we can continue to have the type of

04:16Economic growth that we've become used to in Utah over the last number of years. It's fascinating when you have conversations with

04:22Technology leaders today you're chatting with the weather's Google or AWS

04:28Microsoft and others

04:30Before we start talking about the technology perhaps AI

04:34The first conversation right now is the shortage of baseload power

04:37It is the constraint for innovation here for our country long term and grateful that we have baseload power these coal-fired plants

04:45Chairman Lee I want to close by saying thanks for holding this hearing

04:48I can't stress enough the importance of passing this bill Senate bill 362

04:54It's been passed before this committee ensuring that the roundup and the musselshell community isn't left behind

05:01because of federal inaction

05:03Federal government's low role in this

05:05This is a short-term fix to allow the processes to finally become completed for a long-term solution

05:11This will allow enough time for the Trump administration to finalize a new permit for Congress to pass

05:17Legislation like my crow revenue act to bring long-term economic certainty for the workers

05:23Musselshell County as well as the crow reservation and the crow nation

05:27Chairman, thank you

Steve Daines Warns Of Mine Closures In Montana Due To 'Checkerboard Federal Ownership' Of Land

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