Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) announced that the President’s budget request to Congress does not include - as originally reported - new royalties or fees to effectively impose a “dirt tax” on Nevada’s miners. Throughout the budgeting process, Heller has been a vocal opponent against any efforts by the Administration to impose a “dirt tax” on Nevada’s miners, which would have a crippling effect on the industry.
In April, Heller urged Office of Management and Budget Director (OMB) Mick Mulvaney, who is charged with completing President’s Trump’s Fiscal Year 2018 budget request, to exclude any new royalties and an abandoned mine land (AML) fee on minerals mining from the budget. Heller cited estimates based on President Obama’s failed proposal that show that implementing an AML fee of 7.8 cents per ton of material displaced would cost Nevada’s mining companies close to $40.7 million.
“Mining is the backbone of Nevada’s rural economy and is responsible for over 18,000 good-paying jobs across the Silver State,” said Heller. “The proposed ‘dirt tax’ would have crippled not only Nevada’s mining industry, but local economies throughout the state. The fact that this was originally looked at by this Administration while crafting their budget only underscores that their budget priorities were anti-Nevada. While I maintain significant concerns with the Administration’s budget request, I am encouraged to see this anti-Nevada provision excluded from the budget request.”
The mining industry is responsible for nearly 18,575 jobs in Nevada with an average weekly wage of over $2,000. This amounts to nearly $107 billion in gross domestic product (GDP) to the state. Throughout Nevada’s economic recovery, mining has been a consistent bright spot, offering good-paying jobs and economic stability for Nevada’s rural communities.
Since coming to Washington, Heller has worked on comprehensive mining legislation to support Nevada’s miners and the critical role of minerals in our domestic energy supply. For example, Heller introduced the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act, legislation that streamlines burdensome permitting process for mining and increases American mineral security. During the 114th Congress, Heller also introduced an amendment to the Energy Policy modernization Act that would block the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from finalizing a rule to impose new financial assurance fees. If implemented, these new requirements would have further deterred capital investment in the domestic mining industry and would have been duplicative of financial assurance programs already in place at both the state and federal level.
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