November 8, 2007
Obama Rolls Out Rural Nevada Agenda

By Dave Maxwell

In a conference call with Nevada reporters November 6th, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) opposed the mining reform bill passed overwhelming by the U.S. House last week. Obama called the bill too burdensome for the mining industry and said he would seek a compromise bill.

The proposed mining bill, Obama said, would reform the Mining Law of 1872 by imposing a 4 percent royalty fee on existing federal mining operations and 8 percent fees on new operations. Nevada Senator Harry Reid and Nevada Congressman Dean Heller both have expressed displeasure with the bill.

Obama said, “The legislation that has been proposed places a significant burden on the mining industry and could have a significant impact on jobs (in rural Nevada) given the difficulties the industry is already facing in maintaining its operations.” He added, “What I don’t want is a situation in which you have rural Nevada bearing the brunt of changes in laws with unforeseen consequences.”

During the 20 minute conference call, Obama also spoke of his agenda for rural Nevada to include better access to health care, protecting family ranches, increasing methamphetamine treatment programs, water conservation measures, supporting the state’s right to regulate gaming and opposing the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.

When asked about using bonds to make sure mine-site cleanup is done, Obama said, “I think that it’s important for mining operators to be responsible stewards of the land. I am not wedded to bonds as the only way to ensure that happens, but I think it’s important that mining operators aren’t able to simply engage in practices that over time can devastate surrounding communities.” Nevada is the world’s fourth largest gold-mining economy, after South Africa, Australia and China.

Regarding rural health care, Obama said people in “rural areas are less likely to have health insurance than their urban counterparts and less likely to have good access to doctors. On average,” he noted. “Rural Nevadans are having to travel 114 miles to reach one of Nevada’s hospitals.” He felt it is important to “expand programs such as the Nevada Rural Hospital Flexibility Program that helps rural hospitals recruit doctors and expand community clinics and invest in health information technology and telemedicine.” He said another of his priorities in Nevada would be to improve care for rural veterans. “Veterans in rural areas generally are in poor health with a lot less access to care. VA medical facilities are often hundreds of miles away and we have discovered that Nevada veterans lose nearly $15 million annually in federal benefits because of long wait times and lack of benefits officers.” His plan, he said, would be to expand the number of VA centers.

Funding local law enforcement to deal with the “scourge of methamphetamines” is another of the Senator’s main agenda items. “Nevada has the highest meth use in the country,” he said.