Save Oak Flat Act

IB Union Calendar No. 427 117TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 1884 [Report No. 117–592] To repeal section 3003 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 12, 2021 Mr. GRIJALVA (for himself, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. KILMER, Mr. RUIZ, Mr. SABLAN, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. HAS- TINGS, Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. NORTON, Ms. MENG, Ms. DEGETTE, and Ms. PINGREE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources DECEMBER 7, 2022 Additional sponsors: Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. NADLER, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. LEVIN of California, Mr. POCAN, Ms. DELBENE, Ms. PORTER, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. SOTO, Mr. COHEN, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas, Ms. JAYAPAL, Ms. CHU, Mr. CASE, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. MATSUI, Ms. NEWMAN, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. MCEACHIN, Mr. KAHELE, Ms. LOFGREN, Mrs. DEMINGS, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. LIEU, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mrs. TORRES of California, Mr. AGUILAR, Mr. JONES, Ms. SLOTKIN, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. STRICKLAND, Mr. COLE, Ms. WILD, Mr. CARSON, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. TAKANO, Mrs. AXNE, Mr. BEYER, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. CRIST, Ms. BASS, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. BROWN of Maryland, Mr. LEVIN of Michigan, Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Mr. QUIGLEY, Ms. STANSBURY, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. CICILLINE, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. SEAN PAT- RICK MALONEY of New York, Mr. HARDER of California, Mr. BOWMAN, Ms. JACOBS of California, Mrs. TRAHAN, Ms. ADAMS, Ms. OMAR, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. TONKO, Ms. SPANBERGER, Mr. COURT- NEY, Mr. MCNERNEY, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. MANNING, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Ms. ROSS, Ms. SEWELL, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. SCHRIER, Ms. BUSH, Ms. BOURDEAUX, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. MORELLE, VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Dec 08, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H1884.RH H1884 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1884 RH Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. WIL- LIAMS of Georgia, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. MOULTON, and Mrs. CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK DECEMBER 7, 2022 Reported from the Committee on Natural Resources; committed to the Com- mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed A BILL To repeal section 3003 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Dec 08, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H1884.RH H1884 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1884 RH Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Save Oak Flat Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 5 Congress finds as follows: 6 (1) Section 3003 of the Carl Levin and Howard 7 P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National Defense Authorization 8 Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (16 U.S.C. 539p) author- 9 izes Oak Flat, which is sacred to Indian Tribes in 10 the region and is part of the larger Chı´’chil 11 Bi5dagoteel Traditional Cultural Property listed in 12 the National Register of Historic Places, to be 13 transferred to Resolution Copper. 14 (2) Resolution Copper plans to hold Oak Flat 15 privately for a mining project that will— 16 (A) result in the physical destruction of 17 Tribal sacred areas and deprive American Indi- 18 ans from practicing their religious ceremonies 19 and other traditional practices; 20 (B) create significant negative environ- 21 mental impacts by destroying Oak Flat and de- 22 pleting and contaminating precious water re- 23 sources; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Dec 08, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1884.RH H1884 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1884 RH (C) require significant quantities of water, 1 which will— 2 (i) likely affect the local hydrology, in- 3 cluding the underlying aquifer; and 4 (ii) result in polluted water that will 5 seep into drinking water supplies. 6 (3)(A) Once Resolution Copper owns Oak Flat, 7 Resolution Copper plans to use the highly destruc- 8 tive block cave mining method to remove 1 cubic 9 mile of ore that (as of the date of enactment of this 10 Act) is located 7,000 feet beneath the surface of the 11 earth without replacing any of the earth removed, 12 because that is the cheapest form of mining. 13 (B) Resolution Copper admits that the surface 14 of Oak Flat will subside and ultimately collapse, de- 15 stroying forever the Tribal sacred areas described in 16 paragraph (2)(A). 17 (4) The Tonto National Forest in which Oak 18 Flat is located was established in 1905 from the an- 19 cestral homelands of American Indians, who were 20 forcibly removed at gunpoint from Oak Flat and 21 other areas of the Forest by the Army during the 22 1880s and held as prisoners of war until the early 23 1900s. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Dec 08, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1884.RH H1884 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1884 RH (5)(A) Section 3003 of the Carl Levin and 1 Howard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National Defense Au- 2 thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (16 U.S.C. 3 539p)— 4 (i) was included in that Act without proper 5 legislative process, in a manner that cir- 6 cumvented the will of the majority of Members 7 of Congress; and 8 (ii) was originally introduced in the House 9 of Representatives as H.R. 687 and in the Sen- 10 ate as S. 339 during the 113th Congress. 11 (B) H.R. 687 was— 12 (i) brought to the floor of the House of 13 Representatives for consideration twice; and 14 (ii) pulled from consideration each time. 15 (C) S. 339 was never considered— 16 (i) by the Senate; or 17 (ii) for mark-up by the Committee on En- 18 ergy and Natural Resources of the Senate. 19 (D) Section 3003 of the Carl Levin and How- 20 ard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National Defense Authoriza- 21 tion Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (16 U.S.C. 539p) was 22 included in that Act without majority support from 23 either the House of Representatives or the Senate. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Dec 08, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1884.RH H1884 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1884 RH (E) A proposed amendment to remove that sec- 1 tion was not allowed to be considered before passage 2 of the bill. 3 (6)(A) Indian Tribes have— 4 (i) ceded or had taken from the Tribes mil- 5 lions of acres of land to help build the United 6 States; and 7 (ii) suffered under Federal assimilationist 8 policies that sought to destroy Tribal cultures. 9 (B) Despite those policies, American Indians 10 continue to practice their religions as they have done 11 for thousands of years. 12 (C) American Indian places of worship, or sa- 13 cred areas, are often land-based, including moun- 14 tains, streams, and trees. 15 (D) As a result of previous Federal land poli- 16 cies that resulted in the significant loss of land of 17 Indian Tribes, many sacred areas of the Tribes are 18 currently located on Federal land. 19 (7)(A) The United States has a trust responsi- 20 bility acknowledged by Congress to protect Tribal 21 sacred areas on Federal land, including pursuant to 22 laws requiring meaningful consultation with affected 23 Indian Tribes before making decisions that will im- 24 pact American Indians; but 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Dec 08, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1884.RH H1884 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1884 RH (B) in contradiction to those laws, section 3003 1 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon 2 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 3 2015 (16 U.S.C. 539p) requires the mandatory con- 4 veyance of a Tribal sacred area located on Federal 5 land, regardless of the outcome of consultation with 6 affected Indian Tribes. 7 (8) Section 3003 of the Carl Levin and Howard 8 P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National Defense Authorization 9 Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (16 U.S.C. 539p)— 10 (A) was strongly opposed by Indian Tribes 11 throughout the United States because that sec- 12 tion establishes a dangerous legislative prece- 13 dent for the lack of protection of Tribal sacred 14 areas located on Federal land by mandating the 15 conveyance of Federal land with significant reli- 16 gious, cultural, historic, and anthropological 17 significance for Indian Tribes to a private com- 18 pany that will destroy the land; 19 (B) circumvents standard environmental 20 review procedures that ensure that the public 21 interest is protected, including the interests of 22 Indian Tribes; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Dec 08, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1884.RH H1884 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1884 RH (C) requires a mandatory conveyance of 1 Oak Flat, regardless of the findings resulting 2 from the environmental review process. 3 (9) The inclusion in the Carl Levin and Howard 4 P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National Defense Authorization 5 Act for Fiscal Year 2015 of section 3003 of that Act 6 (16 U.S.C. 539p) establishes a negative precedent 7 for— 8 (A) the legislative process; and 9 (B) Federal Indian policy. 10 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 11 In the Act: 12 (1) OAK FLAT.—The term ‘‘Oak Flat’’ means 13 the approximately 2,422 acres of Forest System 14 land in the Tonto National Forest in southeastern 15 Arizona commonly known as ‘‘Oak Flat’’ and gen- 16 erally depicted as ‘‘Oak Flat Withdrawal Area’’ on 17 the map titled ‘‘Save Oak Flat Act of 2021’’ and 18 dated March 15, 2021. 19 (2) RESOLUTION COPPER.—The term ‘‘Resolu- 20 tion Copper’’ means Resolution Copper Mining, 21 LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. 22 SEC. 4. REPEAL AND WITHDRAWAL. 23 (a) REPEAL.—Section 3003 of the Carl Levin and 24 Howard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National Defense Authoriza- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Dec 08, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1884.RH H1884 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 1884 RH tion Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (16 U.S.C. 539p) is re- 1 pealed. 2 (b) WITHDRAWAL.—Subject to valid rights in exist- 3 ence on the date of the enactment of this Act, Oak Flat 4 is withdrawn from all forms of— 5 (1) entry, appropriation, or disposal under the 6 public land laws; 7 (2) location, entry, and patent under the mining 8 laws; and 9 (3) disposition under all laws pertaining to min- 10 eral and geothermal leasing or mineral materials. 11 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Dec 08, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1884.RH H1884 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS Union Calendar No. 427 117TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 1884 [Report No. 117–592] A BILL To repeal section 3003 of the Carl Levin and How- ard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National Defense Au- thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015, and for other purposes. DECEMBER 7, 2022 Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Dec 08, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H1884.RH H1884 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS