Democrats Warned Against Fast-Tracking Update to U.S. Mining Law

House Democrats’ fast-tracking of fees on minerals and other hard-rock mining royalties in the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package would poison any hope of a bipartisan compromise, the top Republican on the Senate energy committee said Tuesday.

The warning from Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) came during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources panel hearing on an 1872 hard-rock mining law amid complaints that the antiquated statute shortchanges taxpayers, particularly for mining of minerals on public lands.

The reconciliation provisions voted through the House Natural Resources Committee in September include a hard-rock mineral royalty fee that would raise about about $2 billion ...