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Show Sen. Resolution Calls for Strip Mining Moratorium W.is!iHk;!on. IU' - Will, Iho hki-lihood (or tlio passage Ol .1 I'Olllpl olh'llMVO Mil l. n o iniiinii; hill ivnt inuiiis; lo dun in Iho c'lnMiii; dav s ol I lie y 2inl li'iuioss. I't.ih Soii.ilor i- rank V. Moss. Chairman of tho S ii.it i.' Siileoiiiii,,iioo on Mmoiais. M.ilori.ils and Kuols. Mas Joinod bv Collators Mans!:. Id. Mol.'.ill, .ind Bur-dii'k Bur-dii'k in pushing throtich a Son.ito K t-.su! u! K'li o.illiiii; (or a iiioraloriiim on Iho crant-liis; crant-liis; id oo.il loasos in tho stato of Montana until the Senate could complete action on the li'islation next year. Moss said the House-passed strip nuniiiL: lull H. H. 6 18 J , 'Ahi.di d-a!s unlv uith coal 1 1 1 '. 1 1 ; 1 1 "di'l.TS lastlv" from the i-llate lull to the J)liit uhne ri'!iipnHiiise-;hls late in the Lmslative session ses-sion is very unlikely, "State officials in Kentn'-i-v and Tennessee charged with supervising reclamation efforts ef-forts in their states told me when 1 visited them in February Feb-ruary of tins year that they needed assistance in techniques tech-niques of reclamation and particularly in Federal assistance as-sistance in enlorcini: exist-im; exist-im; laws. It appears unlikely thai this Congress will tie able to do that." Moss said. "Westerners, on the other hand, have viewed Appalachia with dismay and plead with members of their delegations delega-tions to halt pending coal operations in the West until a carefully orchestrated plan involving a thorough study of the land ownership pat- tern, natural resources, water and land uses ami the sociological and economical impact of the proposed gargantuan gar-gantuan mining development operations can be completed." "To thai end. Senator Met-calf. Met-calf. Senator Mansfield, Senator Sen-ator Burdick and I introduced a joint resolution urging the Secretary to suspend coal mining activities on Federal lands (comprising nearly 50 per cent or more of Ihe coal lands of Ihe West) until such time as the Congress has completed action on surface mining legislation." A modified version of that resolution was reported from the Interior Committee to the Senate on October 6. This resolution slates the sense of the Senate that Federal leasing be held in abeyance in Montana for a period of one year, or until appropriate legislation is enacted to control con-trol surface mining. "The Secretary of the Interior In-terior has authority to do all that we ask him to do by this resolution," Moss said. "The added impetus is simply sim-ply that the Senate urges him to do it. Now:" |
