The Silver City Grant County Chamber of Commerce shares the concerns mentioned in the article below from State Representative Rebecca Dow. Please understand the severity of what may happen if these bills are approved in the New Mexico legislature and become the law of the land. Grant County receives an economic impact from Freeport-McMoRan in excess of $162 million dollars a year. Without those dollars flowing through our local economy, businesses will close. People will move away. And there will be no way that local and county government will be able to sustain their current financial budgets without the income being derived from Freeport-McMoRan's impact dollars.

Folks, this isn't fear-mongering, this is sharing the plain truth. If the house bill means what is says, there is no possible way that Freeport-McMoRan could comply with regulations in House Bill 220. This would mean the company could not receive the necessary ground water discharge permits… causing the mines to close. Not for a month, not for six months, not for years… FOREVER!

If you want to see Grant County and our local municipalities die – don't do anything. If you want to see mining continue in our area… if you want to continue your current lifestyle in Grant County – CALL STATE REPRESENTATIVES TODAY TO OPPOSE HOUSE BILL 220 and HOUSE BILL 255. These bills will kill mining in Grant County!

Scott C. Terry
President- CEO
Silver City Grant County Chamber of Commerce

"As your State Representative, I see hundreds of bills every year. I see bills with both good and bad intentions, positive and negative consequences but most of them are brought with the idea of making New Mexico better. However, this year I am seeing legislation that causes me to shake my head and wonder what benefit it could possibly provide.

That's what I think when I look at two current anti-mining bills. One such bill is House Bill 220, an amendment to the Water Quality Act that would require the Environment Department to deny a ground water discharge permits based on unreasonable standards. Sadly, the bill sponsor has indicated that this bill is specifically targeted at our Grant County copper mines. There is a difference between reasonable laws and radical environmentalism and this bill is way over the line.

There is nothing more important than making sure that we all have safe drinking water, and that is what our Water Quality Act is intended to ensure. However, I cannot understand how that can be accomplished by denying a permit for a copper mine, and requiring it to close. Ground water monitoring and expert analysis has shown that water cannot escape the bottom of the mine pits and, therefore, cannot impact our drinking water. Permits certainly should require that groundwater outside of the mine site that could supply drinking water must meet standards, and the Copper Rule adopted by the Water Quality Control Commission does exactly that. It would be senseless to require that our copper mines shut down at the loss of 1,500 Grant County jobs directly at the mines and over 4,000 New Mexico jobs that the mines support. Aside from the mines, I have serious concerns about whether this bill might affect permits needed for agriculture, other industries, and even our municipal sewage systems. Unfortunately, there is more than one bill targeting this critical industry.

House Bill 255 would prohibit the use of third-party corporate guarantees as part of the financial assurance that mines must place with the State to ensure that proper mine closure and reclamation are carried out. Current state law allows only a portion of the financial assurance to be in the form of these guarantees, and requires other assets such as surety bonds, cash, or real estate collateral for the rest. This approach has allowed New Mexico to receive more "hard assets" as part of the financial assurance—currently growing over $180 million—in cash trust funds for the mines in Grant County, while ensuring that all of the assets of companies such as Freeport-McMoRan stand behind the rest of their obligations. If passed, this bill would undo much of the good work our state agencies have done to ensure that tax dollars will never be required to be spent to help close and reclaim the mines someday. As long as the mines continue to operate in a responsible manner and in compliance with their permits, I am hopeful that day will be far in the future, and the mines can continue to support hundreds of mine jobs and local businesses for a long time. If you agree with me, please let me and your other legislators know!"

Representative Rebecca Dow