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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release August 7, 1998

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

I am proud to announce completion today of a major initiative to preserve one of America's true crown jewels, Yellowstone National Park.

Two years ago, to protect the Park from the potential ravages of mining, I announced an agreement to acquire the proposed New World Mine outside Yellowstone from its owner, Crown Butte Mines, Inc. Last year, with critical support from Senator Max Baucus, Congress appropriated $65 million for the acquisition. Over the past several months, the Administration completed several intermediate steps, including an agreement with Crown Butte to ensure cleanup of contamination from nearly 100 years of mining near Yellowstone. Today, the New World Mine property was formally transferred to the U.S. Forest Service, completing this historic acquisition.

Yellowstone, America's first national park, is the heart of a magnificent landscape and ecosystem that we are working to restore and preserve for all time. Today's action culminates an extraordinary collaboration by the Administration, the state of Montana, Crown Butte and conservationists to protect both Yellowstone and the economy it sustains. Years from now, bison, wolves and other wildlife will flourish, and visitors will enjoy Yellowstone in all its splendor.

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