Committee backs bill to direct larger share of mine-license tax to abandoned-mine cleanup

The Idaho House Resources and Conservation Committee voted to send House Bill 226 to the full House with a "do pass" recommendation after lawmakers and industry witnesses said the state’s Abandoned Mine Lands Fund has been depleted by ongoing operating costs and volatile mining revenues.

Representative Dustin Manwaring, R-Pocatello, told the committee the bill would redirect a higher percentage of the state mine license tax into the Abandoned Mine Lands Fund, allow voluntary contributions to that fund, require that a majority of fund expenditures go to eligible abandoned-mine projects rather than management or personnel costs, and create a public advisory committee to help set priorities.

The funding change is intended to stabilize the fund so money is available to remediate historic mine sites, which witnesses said pose public-health and safety risks in some areas of Idaho. Benjamin Davenport, executive vice president of the Idaho Mining Association, said the fund was created to address mine lands abandoned before modern environmental and financial-assurance rules existed.

"The abandoned mine lands fund was created to assist in clean up of Idaho mine lands that were abandoned by mining generations from the past," Davenport said. He told the committee the mine license tax is "1% of production," and that roughly one-third of those collections currently flows to the Abandoned Mine Lands Fund; the bill would raise that share to 50 percent.

Davenport told members the fund is variable from year to year: "In 2001 when we created the funding mechanism for the abandoned mine lands fund, over $700,000 went in one year. The average over the last five years was somewhere in the neighborhood of, let's see, I want to say around $70,000 a year. So we had $62,000 last year, dollars 119 the year before, dollars 100,000 the year before that, dollars 161 before that." He described those figures as examples of the fund's volatility.

Manwaring said the bill would also allow voluntary contributions from outside groups and mandate reporting and transparency. The bill requires the department that manages the fund to maintain a list of eligible abandoned mines, produce an annual report listing funds and projects, and consult with the advisory committee to set remediation priorities.

Committee members asked for clarifications during the hearing. When asked what was meant by a representative "representing conservation interests," Davenport said the seat would be filled by someone from a non-governmental conservation organization, such as the Idaho Conservation League, Idaho Conservation Voters or sportsmen’s groups. Members also asked why the Office of Energy and Mineral Resources was listed rather than the Idaho Department of Lands; witnesses said the executive branch office was included to provide an additional executive-branch seat while the Department of Lands would continue to manage the fund and the advisory committee.

A member asked whether advisory committee members would be paid; Davenport said, "no, there is no compensation. This is a voluntary and advisory board." Committee staff said recent expenditures from the fund had included salaries, wages and employee benefits as well as professional services and, in earlier years, maintenance and repairs — a pattern the bill seeks to limit so more money goes directly to remediation projects.

A motion to send House Bill 226 to the floor with a "do pass" recommendation was made and the committee approved the motion by voice vote; the transcript records the chair calling for "ayes" and saying, "Ayes have it," but does not record a roll-call tally. No members of the public were signed up to testify on the bill at the committee meeting.

The committee chair noted informational materials from stakeholders on related groundwater concerns were available on the committee OneDrive and in limited hard copy; the materials referenced the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer. The bill will advance to the full House as the next formal step.