Son of HR 2262: SB 2750 Introduced in U. S. Senate

Remember HR 2262, the House bill that would have put an 8% royalty on the gross value of any minerals extracted from public lands, among other outrageous enactments? Well, it's back! This time it comes to us in the form of SB 2750: A bill to modify the requirements applicable to locatable minerals on public domain lands, consistent with the principles of self-initiation of mining claims, and for other purposes.

This new version of the old abomination was introduced in the Senate yesterday by Senator Dianne Feinstein of California. It has been read twice and referred to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

I have only skimmed the text of this proposed measure, but it appears to embody most of the provisions of its predecessor almost verbatim as well as imposing higher fees for locating and maintaining unpatented claims.

To read the text as published in the Congressional Record, visit the link here and scroll about halfway down the page. There you will find Senator Feinstein's introduction followed by the text of the bill.

The current status of SB 2750 can be found here and an RSS feed for updates here.

I figure this is another bill we all need to keep a close watch on while sending comments to the appropriate parties.