Latest news with #HouseBill233
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New bill would prohibit hard-rock metals mining in Alaska's Bristol Bay watershed
Braided wetlands and tundra in the Bristol Bay watershed are seen from the air on July 26, 2010. Seen here is Upper Talarik Creek, which flows into Lake Iliamna and then the Kvichak River before emptying into Bristol Bay. A new bill introduced on the last day of the Alaska Legislature's 2025 session would bar hard-rock metals mining in the Bristol Bay watershed. (Photo provided by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) Mere hours before he banged his gavel to adjourn this year's session of the Alaska House of Representatives, Speaker Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, introduced a bill to bar metals mining from the Bristol Bay watershed. The measure, House Bill 233, would expand on the Environmental Protection Agency's 2023 decision prohibiting permitting of the controversial Pebble Project in the region. The Biden administration action, which followed up on a process started in the Obama administration, invoked a rarely used provision on the Clean Water Act to prevent development of the huge open-pit copper and gold mine planned for the region upstream from salmon-rich Bristol Bay. Edgmon's bill would ban all metallic sulfide mining in the area designated as the Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve, which encompasses state land in the Bristol Bay watershed. Metallic sulfide mining, also known as hard-rock mining, is the type of mining that extracts elements like gold and copper from acid-generating rocks classified as sulfides. When these sulfides are processed, they commonly cause acid to drain out. It is a method distinct from placer mining, which sifts out metals from loose sediments. The copper and gold that would be produced at the Pebble project is held in sulfide ore and would be extracted through hard-rock mining. The Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve was established by the Legislature in 1972 to prevent oil and gas development in the region. The effort was led by Jay Hammond, who was president of the state Senate at the time. He later became governor. Under House Bill 223, the Hammond-championed prohibitions on petroleum development would be expanded to mining. The justifications for the 1972 action 'also warrant new protections to prevent hardrock mining activities that would risk polluting the region's river systems, ground water, aquifer systems,' as well as any drainages that connect to Bristol Bay's surface water, the bill's text says. Edgmon is from the Bristol Bay region. The bill will be considered next year, along with other measures still pending in the 34th Legislature. Alannah Hurley, executive director of a consortium of Native tribal governments in the Bristol Bay region, said the bill would provide extra protection for EPA's action. That protection is needed because of 'the uncertainty that we're continuing to face' from litigation pressed by Pebble's sponsors, Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. and the Pebble Limited Partnership it owns, said Hurley, who is with United Tribes of Bristol Bay, an organization that has long opposed the Pebble project. Northern Dynasty and the Pebble Limited Partnership have sued to overturn the 2023 EPA determination, and the case remains active. The state of Alaska, at the direction of Gov. Mike Dunleavy, has also sued the federal government over the action. Hurley said that beyond upholding the EPA determination, the bill would prevent the development of other metals mines in the region, Hurley said. There are about 20 active claims that could be developed into large metals mines, though not as large as the proposed Pebble project, she said. If the bill passes, 'we wouldn't have to face 20 other mining claims piecemeal over who knows how many decades,' she said. While the bill is new, the effort behind it goes back a long time, Hurley said. 'This is something the tribes have been talking about for years. We need the EPA protection, but we also need legislation to really protect the watershed,' she said. A legislative effort similar to House Bill 233 was mounted on the federal level by former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska. She introduced the Bristol Bay Protection Act a year ago to codify the EPA's Clean Water Act determination barring a Pebble-type mine from being permitted in the Bristol Bay watershed. The act died in committee, and Peltola lost her seat in November to current Rep. Nick Begich, R-Alaska. The tribes and other Pebble opponents have thus turned their attention to the Legislature now that Peltola is no longer in the U.S. House, Hurley said. 'The fact that she wasn't reelected has frustrated expectations that we can make any progress with Congress,' Hurley said. There have been previous efforts in the Alaska Legislature, as well. In 2015, Rep. Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage, introduced a measure, House Bill 119, that would require legislative approval for any large-scale metallic sulfide mine in the Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve. It failed to reach the House floor. Josephson introduced a similar bill, House Bill 14, in 2017. It also died in committee. Josephson is a co-sponsor of Edgmon's new bill. Representatives of Northern Dynasty and the Pebble Limited Partnership were not available to comment on the new bill. Dunleavy, who has been supportive of the Pebble project, has not taken a position, said his spokesperson, Jeff Turner. The bill was just introduced, so the governor has not had time to review it, Turner said. 'As a general rule, the Governor's office does not comment on legislation until it has passed and been transmitted to his office,' he said by email. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Georgia now has official state stew, bread
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (WSAV) — Georgia officially has a state stew and a state bread! House Bill 233 was signed into law Monday that marked Brunswick stew as the official state stew. The stew is a Georgia classic, made with meat, tomatoes and fresh vegetables. According to the bill, a plaque on an old iron pot in Brunswick declares the first Brunswick stew was made in it on July 2, 1898, on nearby St. Simons Island. 'Contrary to claims by other states, Georgia, and specifically Brunswick, Georgia, is the birthplace of Brunswick stew,' the bill said. Georgians know that cornbread often goes hand in hand with Brunswick stew, and the state decided it would stay that way. HB 233 also designated cornbread as Georgia's official state bread. 'Corn is grown, ground, and made into cornmeal at historic mills like Prater's Mill, Berry College Mill, and Ogeechee River Mill and modern mills like Southeastern Mills and Logan Turnpike Mill,' the bill said. 'Cornmeal is then sold in stores and served in eating establishments throughout the state, and cornbread is enjoyed by young and old at home and in restaurants' Cornbread enjoys a singular stature in Georgia history and culture that is rivaled only by its undeniable appeal as a versatile and satisfying food It also designated the fourth Friday in November as 'National Sugarcane Syrup Day' in Georgia. Legislators said that making it the day after Thanksgiving is particularly fitting, 'as it is not only a time when families gather and celebrate together, but also a time when some say sugarcane is at its sweetest in Georgia.' Read the full bill here: HB-233-1Download Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New Mexico expands health insurance coverage for diabetic foot ulcer treatments
The American Diabetes Association said New Mexico is the first U.S. state to require state-regulated health insurance plans to cover medically necessary treatments for diabetic foot ulcers. (Photo by Getty Images) More New Mexicans will be able to receive treatment for diabetic foot ulcers, thanks to a first-in-the-nation requirement for some health insurance plans to cover the costs. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on April 7 signed into law House Bill 233, which requires state-regulated health insurance plans to pay for medically necessary treatments for diabetic foot ulcers starting in 2026. In a news release on April 8, the American Diabetes Association applauded the new law and said it makes New Mexico the first U.S. state to require state-regulated health insurance plans to cover these treatments. Diabetes-related foot ulcers affect approximately 15 to 25% of all people with diabetes at some point in their lifetime, the ADA said in the news release, and 15% of people with a diabetes-related foot ulcer will require an amputation. In New Mexico, approximately 217,400 adults, or 13.1% of adults in the state, have diagnosed diabetes, with an estimated 9,800 adults receiving the diagnosis each year, according to the state Department of Health's analysis of HB233. Diabetic foot ulcers can lead to loss of the ability to walk, infection, hospitalization, lower-extremity amputation and death, according to a review article in the ADA's journal Diabetes Care. Christine Fallabel, the ADA's director of state government affairs, told Source NM that people with these ulcers have found that insurance does not cover the specialized podiatric treatments to fight the infection and save the foot. Other states have not tried to introduce similar legislation, Fallabel said, because there is a lot of stigma around diabetes and foot health, and policymakers generally don't know about the problem. Fallabel, who has lived with Type 1 Diabetes for the last 25 years, said one of those treatments, called topical oxygen therapy, has resulted in a 71% reduction in amputations, an 88% reduction in hospital visits and a six times higher likelihood of healing within three months, she said. 'There's really good data coming out about targeting diabetic foot ulcers with this high-pressure oxygen therapy that, until this bill was signed, most insurers wouldn't cover for one reason or another,' Fallabel said. Other services that podiatrists could try and would be covered by health insurance under the new law could also include antibiotics or physical therapy, Fallabel said. State-regulated health insurance plans include a range of private health insurance plans managed by the state government, Fallabel said. It does not include Medicare or Medicaid patients, she said. Some state Medicaid programs cover these kinds of treatments but New Mexico's does not, Fallabel said. During the recent legislative session, some lawmakers expressed interest in returning in a future session to change the Medicaid program to cover these treatments too, she said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
