Question 2: There is a reason the mining tax cap is in the state Constitution

Only days after the state of Nevada celebrates its 150th anniversary of statehood on Oct. 31, voters will be asked on the General Election ballot whether to repeal a section of the Nevada Constitution on which the very question of statehood hinged those 150 years ago.

In September 1863 the residents of the Nevada territory voted by a margin of 4-to-1 to seek statehood, but in January 1864 they rejected by a margin of 4-to-1 a Constitution that would have taxed mining at the same rate as other businesses.

Then in July 1864 a revised Constitution that changed mining taxes to “net proceeds” — allowing deduction of expenses — and capping the tax rate at 5 percent. It passed with a vote of 10,375 to 1,284.

Article 10 of the Nevada Constitution reads: “The legislature shall provide by law for a tax upon the net proceeds of all minerals, including oil, gas and other hydrocarbons, extracted in this state, at a rate not to exceed 5 percent of the net proceeds. No other tax may be imposed upon a mineral or its proceeds until the identity of the proceeds as such is lost.”

The provision takes into account that the value of minerals is depleted over time.

That is how much the residents of the territory, attracted to the region by mining and dependent upon mining for their livelihoods, feared the damage a meddling Legislature could do to the lifeblood of the state.

A yes vote on Question 2 on the November ballot would repeal that provision of the Constitution and allow the Legislature in 2015 to raise taxes on mining, though it would take a two-thirds vote of both houses of the Legislature.

If lawmakers are willing to give away tax breaks worth $1.3 billion to attract Tesla Motors to build a battery manufacturing plant here instead of another state, imagine what they might be willing to try to extract from a captive industry  — one that can’t move its gold mine to Texas.

Mining is why Nevada exists and why vast portions of rural Nevada survive today. The mining industry directly employs more than 10,000 workers and provides an estimated 14,000 jobs for those who are vendors and service providers for mining. Mining jobs average $88,000 in wages. Mining pays more than $400 million a year in state and local taxes.

Nevada Mining Association President Tim Crowley scoffs at those who claim mining fails to pay its fair share in taxes. “Mining pays every tax every other business pays,” he says. The net proceeds tax is over and above the sales, business, payroll, property taxes on facilities and other taxes other industries pay.

The net proceeds tax revenue has fallen in recent years because the price of gold has fallen, just as property tax revenues are down due to the decline in value of homes and land.

Crowley has pointed out that lawmakers can and have increased the tax revenue from mining by simply reducing the number of deductions allowed for mining expenses.

This measure would allow the Legislature to pluck the golden goose and roast it on a spit.

24-foot diameter mineshaft at Pumpkin Hollow copper mine

Newspaper column: Bills to turn over federal land to local governments advance

Both of Nevada’s congressmen who represent the rural areas — Mark Amodei in the north and Steven Horsford in the south — put out verbatim press releases heralding the passage out of the House Natural Resources Committee by unanimous consent a package of seven bills that could have major economic impact on several communities if ever signed into law, as reported in this week’s newspaper column, available online at The Ely Times, the Elko Daily Free Press and the Mesquite Local News.

The same set of bills passed the same committee in January by a vote of 29-14, though there reportedly has been some tweaking of the bills since then.

The press releases said the bipartisan support clears the way for the legislation to be brought to the House floor in September as a non-controversial suspension bill.

For his part Amodei was quoted as saying, “These are community-driven lands measures that will create jobs without cost to the federal taxpayer. For the second time in two years, the eyes of Northern Nevada turn to the Senate.”

Pumpkin Hollw

While the congressman from northern Nevada was not so gauche as to spell out what he meant by that remark, allow us to explain.

The Senate is under the leadership of Nevada’s senior senator, Harry Reid, who has not deigned it a priority to push various versions of these bills, including ones he and Sen. Dean Heller have sponsored over on the Senate side.

In fact, when last one of the bills in question progressed to the point of actually being voted on, Reid threw a monkey wrench into the works. What is now called H.R. 696, the Lyon County Economic Development and Conservation Act, would allow the town of Yerington to buy, at market value, 12,500 acres of federal land adjacent to the Pumpkin Hollow copper mine for an industrial park. It is estimated the project could create 800 to 1,000 permanent jobs and about 500 jobs during the construction phase.

But Reid demanded that the bill include designation of 48,000 acres of wilderness, to be called the Wovoka Wilderness Area, a proposal the local residents had previously rejected. it now does.

The Yerington bill now has languished in Congress for six years.

Other bills in the package involve land in Humboldt County, Storey County, Carlin, Fernley, Elko and the Fallon Naval Air Station. That last land deal has been pending since 1991.

Harry Reid should take a little time between rants about the Koch brothers to put these bills to a Senate vote.

Read the entire column at Ely, Elko or Mesquite.

Reid discusses Yerington land bill … in December 2012:

 

List of languishing public lands bills slip out of committee … again

Pardon us for not swooning in anticipation of the economic windfall about to be bestowed on rural Nevada by the seven public lands bills that have again been passed out of a House committee just before the August recess.

Both of Nevada’s congressmen who represent the rural areas — Mark Amodei in the north and Steven Horsford in the south — put out verbatim press releases heralding the passage out of theHouse Natural Resources Committee by unanimous consent a package of seven bills that could have major economic impact on several communities if ever signed into law.

Pumpkin Hollow mine shaft

The same set of bills passed the same committee in January by a vote of 29-14, though there reportedly has been some tweaking of the bills since then.

The press releases said the bipartisan support clears the way for the legislation to be brought to the House floor in September as a non-controversial suspension bill.

“Working to create jobs and strengthen the middle class has been my number one priority in Congress,” said Horsford in both releases. “Today, Democrats and Republicans unanimously moved a legislative package forward that will grow Nevada’s economy. Thanks to Congressman Mark Amodei and others, we have been able to find common sense bipartisan solutions that bridge the partisan divide. When we work together and put Nevada first, political posturing fades into the background, and our constituents benefit.”

For his part Amodei was quoted as saying, “These are community-driven lands measures that will create jobs without cost to the federal taxpayer. For the second time in two years, the eyes of Northern Nevada turn to the Senate.”

Wovoka

While the congressman from northern Nevada was not so gauche as to spell out what he meant by that remark, allow us.

The Senate is under the leadership of Nevada’s senior Sen. Harry Reid, who has not deigned it a priority to push various versions of these bills, including ones he and Sen. Dean Heller have sponsored over on the Senate side.

In fact, when last one of the bills in question progressed to the point of actually being voted on, Reid threw a monkey wrench in the works. What is now called H.R. 696, the Lyon County Economic Development and Conservation Act, would allow the town of Yerington to buy, at market value, 12,500 acres of federal land adjacent to the Pumpkin Hollow copper mine for an industrial park. It is estimated the project could create 800 to 1,000 permanent jobs and about 500 jobs during the construction phase.

Reid demanded that the bill include the set aside of 48,000 acres of wilderness, to be called the Wovoka Wilderness Area, a proposal the local residences had previously rejected.

H.R. 696, now has a section that states “the area designated as the Wovoka Wilderness by this section contains unique and spectacular natural resources, including — (A) priceless habitat for numerous species of plants and wildlife; (B) thousands of acres of land that remain in a natural state; and (C) habitat important to the continued survival of the population of the greater sage grouse of western Nevada and eastern California …”

The Yerington bill now has languished in Congress for six years.

Other bills in the package include:

H.R. 433, the Pine Forest Range Recreation Enhancement Act, which also has been sought by Humboldt County officials for years, would create a 26,000-acre wilderness area.

H.R. 1167, the Restoring Storey County Act would transfer the surface rights to 1,750 acres of federal land in Virginia City to Storey County to resolve conflicting ownership and title claims.

H.R. 1168, the Carlin Economic Self-Determination Act would let Carlin buy federal land surrounding the city at fair market value for multi-use development.

H.R. 1169, the Naval Air Station Fallon Housing and Safety Development Act would transfer 400 acres to the Navy, allowing it to build 200 new military family homes. The transfer was first requested in 1991.

H.R. 1170, the Fernley Economic Self-Determination Act would allow Fernley to buy 9,000 acres of federal land within the city limits at fair market value for a multi-use development.

H.R. 2455, the Elko Motocross and Tribal Conveyance Act would provide 275 acres for the Te-moak Tribe of Western Shoshone to construct a motocross recreation area.

Harry Reid should take a little time between rants about the Koch brothers to put these bills to a Senate vote.

 

 

 

 

Harry can’t help but meddle

First, Sen. Harry Reid insisted on adding the Wovoka Wilderness Area to the Yerington land bill that would allow the town to annex the Pumpkin Hollow copper mine and expedite economic development.

Now, Reid is stirring up the fecal matter by criticizing the mining company for not hiring enough Nevadans to do the work. He said not a word when one of his darlings in the solar energy business hired mostly Spaniards to do the work.

On the day before a Senate subcommittee hearing on the bill, Reno newspaper writer Ray Hagar quoted Reid as saying:

“I think it is wrong to have this company, Nevada Copper, bring people in from outside the state. I think they should be all Nevada people. If they are not all available in Lyon County, then they’re available in the surrounding counties. This is really unfair to go with people outside of Nevada when Nevada us desperate for jobs.”

A mine spokesman said the current work is digging a vertical mineshaft, which is very specialized, but that half the 60 workers currently on site are Nevadans. The mine hopes to eventually employ 900, most of whom would be Nevadans.

Here is Reid on Thursday afternoon in the hearing stirring things up:

Senate panel to hold hearings on sale of federal land to Yerington

Blasting at Pumpkin Hollow mine:

About five years along in the process — the Senate actually passed a budget in less time than that — a Senate subcommittee is finally scheduled to hear arguments on a bill that would allow the town of Yerington to buy at market value 12,500 acres of federal public land adjacent to Nevada Copper’s Pumpkin Hollow mine so it can create an industrial park and recreation facilities.

The project could mean 500 construction jobs and as many as 800 permanent jobs for Lyon County, which has the highest unemployment rate in high unemployment  Nevada. Those jobs are expected to pay on average $75,000 a year.

Pumpkin Hollow copper mine. (Photo by Rob Sabo)

The bill — known as the Lyon County Economic Development and Conservation Act or  S. 159 — also sets aside, to satisfy Sen. Harry Reid’s “green” buddies, the Wovoka Wilderness area. There is a companion bill coursing its way through the House.

Sen. Dean Heller, who requested the hearing,  remarked, “I am pleased that the Energy Committee has recognized the significance of this legislation. This bill would create hundreds of jobs in Lyon County, which continues to struggle with record unemployment rates. I and the other members of the delegation have been working hard on this collaborative process on the local, state, and federal level to balance jobs and conservation. No doubt, Congress should be focusing on measures such as this, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to make this legislation a reality.”

Rep. Mark Amodei has noted that the bill will  not cost the taxpayers a dime and Yerington will pay the appraised value for the land. He pointed out that Reid’s renewable energy “investments” in Nevada alone cost taxpayers more than $1 billion and resulted in 136 jobs.

The hearing by the Public Lands Subcommittee of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will be Thursday, April 25, at 2:30 p.m. (EDT) in room SD-366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Newspaper column: A tale of a land deal and not one but two wildernesses

Yerington’s past and current congressmen are putting their heads together to try and finally push through Congress a bill that would allow the city to purchase 10,400 acres of federal land adjacent to Nevada Copper’s Pumpkin Hollow mine.

The bill, after years of studies and planning, cleared the House this past summer while Yerington was in Mark Amodei’s 2nd Congressional District, but the town and the southern half of Lyon County have since been redistricted into Steven Horsford’s new 4th Congressional District.

Proposed Wovoka Wilerness area.

Horsford hopes to fast track the bill, which would pave the way for development that could lead to 800 jobs with annual salaries averaging $75,000, as reported in this week’s newspaper column available online at The Ely Times and the Elko Daily Free Press.

One new aspect of the bill is that the Senate version, at Sen. Harry Reid’s insistence, has a provision designating a 48,000-acre wilderness tract in southern Lyon County, called Wovoka by some.

Asked if he had heard of pushback against the wilderness proposal, Horsford said, “Obviously, Nevada Copper has a lot of financing at stake and a lot of risk if the bill isn’t moved quickly … So, no there was no pushback. It was more of a we need to get this done.”

But Amodei is frustrated that the Wovoka designation is on the front burner while a bill on the proposed 26,000-acre Pine Forest Range Wilderness Area in Humboldt County has languished. He wants the Pine Forest Range bill to be on a parallel track to, or even be attached to, the Yerington bill. Read the full column at the Ely or Elko site.

Flowers in a meadow in the Pine Forest Range (Photo by Jim Davis)

Maybe its just Harry’s version of the Ghost Dance — to remove almost all people from the land

Perhaps you’ve heard by now how Harry Reid is holding 800 Yerington area jobs hostage so he can placate his environmentalist buddies who would like to wipe every trace of human habitation off the face of the planet.

Rep. Mark Amodei managed to get a bill through the House that would allow Yerington to buy 10,000 acres of BLM land at market value to facilitate development of the Pumpkin Hollow copper mine, but Harry is holding it up in the Senate because he wants to hang a wilderness ornament on the tree.

Harry Reid wants 80,000 acres of wilderness designation in exchange for bill to allow Yerington to buy land and create jobs.

I mentioned it in August and Sherman Frederick mentioned it Sunday in his column in the Review-Journal, but it’s not been widely reported.

“It is not a lot of wilderness area but it is something that is important,” Reid was quoted as saying by the Reno Gazette-Journal. “They cannot think they are going to get this thing and do nothing for the environment.”

It apparently turns out that “not a lot of wilderness area” to Harry is 125 square miles, about the size of the entire city of Las Vegas or about 6 percent of all of Lyon County.

According to an article in the Mason Valley News — “The Only Newspaper In The World That Gives A Damn About Yerington,” but not enough to use its name for its flag — Harry recently suggested (though it is not stated where or to whom) 80,000 acres of what has been called the “Wovoka” area, which the paper says is on the south and east side of the Pine Grove mountain range, should be designated as wilderness as a part of the Yerington bill.

Wovoka

The area seems to be appropriately named for the Northern Paiute who in 1889 claimed God had shown him the Ghost Dance, which would remove all the white people and return the land to the Paiutes. The Ghost Dance soon spread from Mason Valley to Paiutes in Oregon, California and Utah, as well as to the Shoshone, Utes, Cheyenne, Arapaho and Lakota.

The land in question is doubtlessly already under the control of the BLM or one the federal bureaucracies that control 85 percent of Nevada and its use is subject to rules, regulations and whims of federal agents. But wilderness designation would make the land off-limits for the average Nevadan.

The Wilderness Act of 1964 defines a wilderness area as one “where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man … retaining its primeval character and influence, without permanent improvements or human habitation, which is protected and managed so as to preserve its natural conditions … has outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation …”

No vehicles, no roads, no trails, no outhouses, no park benches, no trash cans, no power tools, no bicycles, no cutting firewood. Hunting is allowed in season under state law, but if you bag anything bigger than a squirrel be prepared to haul it out on your back.

Ghost Dance

The Mason Valley paper quoted Amodei as saying, “I don’t know how you can hold up (the bill) when it is ready to move on its own merits.” He said any wilderness bill should be separate, backed by the local community and “stand on its own merits.”

But give Harry a place to stand in the Senate with a lever as long as the Senate calendar and a fulcrum of job-desperate Lyon County residents, where the unemployment rate is 15 percent, he can move (or block) mountains of legislation. With no apologies to Archimedes.

Or maybe its just Harry’s version of the Ghost Dance.

  

Harry extorting Yerington mining jobs bill to pay back his ‘green’ buddies

Not only is Harry Reid determined to kill jobs in Nevada by replacing them with overpriced, underperforming “green” energy power plants, he is now willing to block the creation of well-paying mining jobs in order to demand a pound of flesh for his enviro buddies.

According to the Reno Gazette-Journal, Reid, speaking at Truckee Meadows Community College Tuesday night, said he will support a bill to allow the city of Yerington to purchase at market price 10,400 acres of land to aid the Pumpkin Hollow copper mining project only if the bill includes the declaration of a wilderness area somewhere else in the state.

Harry listening to Obama in Reno. (Reno Gazette-Journal photo)

It has been estimated the project could create 800 jobs paying on average $75,000 apiece, but Reid apparently stands ready to sideline the economic development over some vague desire to protect some unspecified sensitive land.

“It is not a lot of wilderness area but it is something that is important,” Reid was quoted as saying by Ray Hagar. “They cannot think they are going to get this thing and do nothing for the environment.”

Rep. Mark Amodei managed to get the bill passed in the House and sent to the Senate, where Reid, as majority leader, controls the calendar.

Hagar further quoted Reid as saying of the mining industry, “I have fought their battles for 30 years in Washington. And they are going to get their mining law passed, but they are going to have something environmentally in it.”

I think the word for that is extortion.

On the Nevada Newsmakers television show recently Amodei said of Reid: “There are times when I wonder if Nevada is really a priority.”

He was interrupted by Hagar who said Amodei was insulting Reid, who now has Amodei’s Yerington land bill in his chamber.

Amodei continued, “I think there needs to be more concern expressed toward the folks who gave you the job.”

Is this now payback time for Amodei for daring to diss the great and powerful majority leader, even if his spite costs Nevada jobs? Reid doesn’t give a fig about Nevada. All he cares about are his “green” campaign contributors and keeping the planet savers energized through November.

There is absolutely no nexus between Yerington purchasing federal land at a fair price and any supposed need to declare still more off-limits land. If something needs to be protected, pass a bill to do so. Don’t shackle a rural Nevada jobs bill with a series of environmental Christmas ornaments.

Here is Sherm’s take on this topic.