The Western Governors’ Association emphasized the need for Congress, in consultation with the states, to develop a National Minerals Policy in outreach to the House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources for its consideration following the July 27, 2021 hearing, The Toxic Legacy of the Mining Law of 1872. The outreach of July 28, 2021, signed by WGA Executive Director Jim Ogsbury included WGA policy resolutions, National Minerals Policy and Cleaning Up Abandoned Hardrock Mines in the West. Ogsbury also reminded that any minerals policy that is developed should “balance the nation’s industrial and security needs with adequate protection of natural resources and the environment … (and) address the development of a clean-up fund and program for reclaiming abandoned hard rock mines.” Read, download the letter.