Mining Caucus News
Member Staff Briefing
Tuesday, June 10, 10:00am
1732 Longworth HOB
June 10th 2008. At 10:00 AM the Congressional Mining Caucus will sponsor a briefing for Members and Staffers on the role of the mining and minerals industry in the United States' economy. The briefing will be held in room 1732 Longworth. There will be four speakers from the major sectors of the mining industry - the aggregate producers, the industrial minerals producers, the coal miners and metal miners. In the broadest terms these mining sectors are the source of about 1/6th of the nation's gross domestic product and they keep about 1.4 million of our fellow citizens gainfully employed. A copy of Mining Engineering's Annual Review of Mining, Exploration and Coal, State Summaries, is attached for your review. [Download Now ›]
Who will be speaking and on what? On the subject of metals and in particular iron, we will hear from Kim Regan from Cleveland Cliffs, a Cleveland based iron mining company. The National Mining Association's Luke Popovich will speak on the use of coal in the economy. The uses of industrial minerals will be covered by Mark Ellis from the Industrial Minerals Association - North America. Last but certainly not least the subject of stone, sand and gravel - the aggregates, will be covered by Pam Whitted from the National Stone Sand and Gravel Association. We look forward to seeing you and your boss at the briefing.
Caucus Administration
First some house keeping matters - there are four co-chairs and thus four 'principle staffers' with something to do regarding the mining caucus. The four co-chairs are Congressman Bill Sali, Congressman Jim Matheson, Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, and Congressman Tim Holden. Their caucus co-chairs staffers are Lisa Tanner, Brad Mollett, Virginia Gum and Liz Hermsen, and should be your contacts for caucus matters.
Most of you may have noticed the recent Dear Colleagues; one from Congresswoman Capito on cosponsoring a bill to produce clean coal-derived fuels, another from Congressman Matheson on research related to 'sweet spots' in underground communications, and one from two of our co-chairs on the Stay out and Stay Alive campaign run be MSHA and its partners. We encourage you to produce your own Dear Colleagues for your bosses. They can be reports about things related to mining that are going on in your boss's district; the results of important mining related research or simply recognizing individuals and companies that are doing good work in the industry. The caucus is about educating members and staff on the many and varied aspects of minerals and mining.
Does your boss have a special interest?
The co-chairs have interests in metals, coal and other minerals, but there is much more to the mining industry than just the minerals themselves. As our invitational dear colleague pointed our there are many aspects of the industry and therefore many of our jurisdictions that impact the industry. What are some of aspects of the industry that are up for grabs, so to speak? We know that some of the members have a strong interest in the nation's import dependence in commodities, so this brings up the cluster of issues surrounding international trade. Taxation and finance are two easily related issues. Then there are mine safety and mine safety research as two closely related areas as are workforce demographics and workforce training. Consider this an invitation for caucus members (and their staffers) to become subject matter experts in some of the aspects of the mining industry.
The Caucus Website
Congressman Sali has an additional asset in the form of a BLM Fellow, who is a geologist with more years of federal service than he cares to think about. And the Congressman has also offered to host the caucus website, assigning the lead to the BLM Fellow. Thus the development of the website is moving along at what might be termed a geologic pace. We take this moment to ask you for your thoughts (as a staffer) about what you'd like to see on a website and to see if you have anything to contribute to the website. Don't be shy.
More Dates to Put on the Boss's (and your) Calendar.
17th Annual National Minerals Education Conference
Held at the Columbus, Renaissance Hotel in downtown Columbus, Ohio, June 15-18, 2008
oaima.org/nmec/index.asp
21st World Mining Congress & Expo
Krakow, Poland, 7-11 September 2008. Contact: see the congress website
wmc-expo2008.org
MINE Expo International 2008
Las Vegas Nevada, September 22-24 2008
minexpo.com
Society for Mining, Minerals and Exploration (SME)
2009 SME Annual Meeting & Exhibit & Colorado Mining Association's 111th National Western Mining Conference, February 22 - 25, 2009, Colorado Convention Center, Denver, Colorado
smenet.org
