They found stiff opposition from mining industry officials and Republican lawmakers at a hearing of the House energy and mineral resources subcommittee.

A bill by longtime reform advocate Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., would add a number of air and water protection rules and an 8 percent royalty fee on hard-rock mining operations.

It also would grant more discretion to federal land managers to deny mining permits when they identify land conflicts.

"Federal lands are owned by all of the people of the United States and it seems to me that it is appropriate to have federal guidelines on hard-rock mining and reclamation." Rahall said.

In response, Rep. Bill Sali, R-Ariz., said, "With all due respect, West Virginia is not the West."

Lawmakers from the West split on the need for change.

"People say the West has changed," said Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif. "In my view, it's time to change the 1872 mining law."

But Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., said the bill would cost Nevadans "thousands of jobs."

During a three-hour airing, proponents of mining reform said it is finally time to update the law, which was enacted by President Grant to promote Western expansion. It has remained largely untouched despite periodic attempts to change it since 1880.

Thursday's hearing was the first since the mid-1990s, when Republicans gained control of Congress and mining law fell off the congressional radar.

Back in control this year, Democrats have revived it as an environmental cause.

But critics of the bill said the fees and added regulations would severely weaken the mining industry, which is threatened by foreign competition.

"I don't think there's any other state that is affected more by this piece of legislation than the state of Nevada," said Heller, noting his largely rural district includes about 6,000 square miles of mines.

Nevada is the most lucrative state for hard-rock mining. It is the world's fourth largest producer of gold behind South Africa, Australia and China.

A field hearing on the mining bill is set for Aug. 21 in Elko, Costa said.

Ted Wilton, a mineral geologist from Spring Creek near Elko, told the subcommittee that his friends in the Northern Nevada town that relies on its mining industry would be put out of work.

"We feel the bill would have profound and lasting effect on our livelihood," he said.

But advocates for change said the current law lacks clear environmental protections, gives away federal land virtually free of cost, at $2.50 to $5 an acre, and does so without reimbursing U.S. taxpayers.

The 8 percent royalty would be used to pay for cleaning the estimated 500,000 abandoned mines, which would cost $32 billion according to the Interior Department.

The bill would also regulate mining wastes, which the Environmental Protection Agency has said are responsible for contaminating 40 percent of U.S. watersheds with cyanide, arsenic and mercury.

The Bureau of Land Management came out against the effort.

Henri Bisson, BLM deputy director, said federal environmental laws like the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act and the National Environmental Policy Act give the government enough authority to regulate mining operations "when properly monitored and enforced by state and federal agencies."

Bisson also questioned whether it might be unconstitutional to levy royalty fees on operations already working existing claims.

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, told lawmakers he is negotiating with Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who exercises a strong voice on mining as a senator from Nevada and is the son of a hard-rock miner.

"Both Senator Reid and I agree that a change can be made," Craig said. "But I would hope that we can work together because the bill does not represent the reality of where we are."

The 1872 Mining Law has been in the cross hairs of reformers before.

Since it was first enacted, Congress has held 30 oversight hearings, but nothing has happened, said John Leshy, a law professor at the University of California Hastings, who was Interior Department solicitor during the Clinton administration.

"Almost forty years ago, Stewart Udall was stepping down after eight years as secretary of the Interior, he called its repeal the biggest unfinished business on the nation's natural resources agenda," Leshy said.