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Nevada Legislative Developments
evada’s legislature took both symbolic and substantive actions in response to the BLM’s new rules. Initially— just as any outraged elected officials would do in such a situation—legislators unanimously passed
a toothless resolution of protest. The resolution noted the state’s strong record on reclamation issues, adding that the BLM itself has acknowledged the state "is a leader in such programs." AJR7 concluded by expressing the legislature’s outrage over "the procedures followed by the Bureau of Land Management in adopting the final rule on bonding requirements … especially because those procedures violate the guarantee of due process in the United States Constitution."
But since the BLM showed little willingness to accommodate the concerns of the U. S. Congress, it was highly unlikely Washington bureaucrats would be swayed by a tongue-lashing from Nevada’s legislature. So later in the session, legislators approved a measure designed to assist Nevada’s small mining operators hurt by the new bonding requirements.
SB 440, drafted by the Division of Minerals of the state’s Department of Business and Industry, permits small-scale mining and exploration projects to apply to the state’s bonding pool. Small operators can now save the cost of bond certification by a third-party professional engineer since the BLM waives that provision if a state has signed off on an operator’s bond. The bill, which even generated support from Nevada’s Sierra Club, passed both the Senate and Assembly by unanimous votes and Gov. Bob Miller—who once grumbled "mining works for Nevada, but not hard enough"—signed the legislation into place with little fanfare on July 3.
Nevada Division of Minerals Administrator Russ Fields reports his office has already received 25 to 30 inquiries from small operations seeking coverage under the expanded bonding pool. Other states, including Alaska, are in the process of modifying their bonding programs to assist small miners as well. u
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