Bill Summary
This legislation, known as the "Save Oak Flat Act," repeals a section of the Carl Levin and Howard P. "Buck" McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015. This specific section, also known as the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Provision, authorizes the transfer of approximately 2,422 acres of Forest Service land in southeastern Arizona known as "Oak Flat" to Resolution Copper Mining, LLC. However, Congress has found that this transfer would have negative impacts on the environment and sacred areas of Native American tribes, and was included in the original bill without proper legislative process. This legislation aims to repeal this section and prevent the destruction of Oak Flat.
Possible Impacts
1. The Save Oak Flat Act would repeal section 3003 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. "Buck" McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015, which would impact the proposed mining project in the Tonto National Forest in southeastern Arizona. This could affect the land and resources in the area, as well as the local environment and wildlife.
2. The repeal of this section could also have an impact on the local Native American tribes who consider Oak Flat to be a sacred site. It would prevent the destruction of the land and the disruption of their religious ceremonies and traditional practices.
3. The inclusion of section 3003 in the original legislation was strongly opposed by Native American tribes, and the repeal of this section could potentially improve the relationship between these tribes and the federal government. It shows a recognition of the trust responsibility and consultation process between the government and Native American communities.
[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 173 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
116th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 173
To repeal section 3003 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
January 17, 2019
Mr. Sanders (for himself, Mr. Wyden, Ms. Warren, Mr. Merkley, Mr.
Heinrich, and Mr. Booker) introduced the following bill; which was read
twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To repeal section 3003 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Save Oak Flat Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) section 3003 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. ``Buck''
McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015
(16 U.S.C. 539p) authorizes the approximately 2,422 acres of
Forest Service land in the Tonto National Forest in
southeastern Arizona commonly known as ``Oak Flat'' (referred
to in this section as ``Oak Flat''), which is sacred to Indian
Tribes in the region and listed in the National Register of
Historic Places, to be transferred to Resolution Copper Mining,
LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (referred to in this
section as ``Resolution Copper'');
(2) Resolution Copper plans to hold Oak Flat privately for
a mining project that will--
(A) result in the physical destruction of Tribal
sacred areas and deprive American Indians from
practicing their religious ceremonies and other
traditional practices;
(B) create significant negative environmental
impacts by destroying Oak Flat and depleting and
contaminating precious water resources; and
(C) require significant quantities of water, which
will--
(i) likely affect the local hydrology,
including the underlying aquifer; and
(ii) result in polluted water that will
seep into drinking water supplies;
(3)(A) once Resolution Copper owns Oak Flat, Resolution
Copper plans to use the highly destructive block cave mining
method to remove 1 cubic mile of ore that (as of the date of
enactment of this Act) is located 7,000 feet beneath the
surface of the earth without replacing any of the earth
removed, because that is the cheapest form of mining; and
(B) Resolution Copper admits that the surface of Oak Flat
will subside and ultimately collapse, destroying forever the
Tribal sacred areas described in paragraph (2)(A);
(4) the Tonto National Forest in which Oak Flat is located
was established in 1905 from the ancestral homelands of
American Indians, who were forcibly removed at gunpoint from
Oak Flat and other areas of the Forest by the Army during the
1880s and held as prisoners of war until the early 1900s;
(5)(A) section 3003 of the Carl Levin and Howard P.
``Buck'' McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal
Year 2015 (16 U.S.C. 539p)--
(i) was included in that Act without proper
legislative process, in a manner that circumvented the
will of the majority of Members of Congress; and
(ii) was originally introduced in the House of
Representatives as H.R. 687 and in the Senate as S. 339
during the 113th Congress;
(B) H.R. 687 was--
(i) brought to the floor of the House of
Representatives for consideration twice; and
(ii) pulled from consideration each time;
(C) S. 339 was never considered--
(i) by the Senate; or
(ii) for mark-up by the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources of the Senate;
(D) section 3003 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. ``Buck''
McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015
(16 U.S.C. 539p) was included in that Act without majority
support from either the House of Representatives or the Senate;
and
(E) a proposed amendment to remove that section was not
allowed to be considered before passage of the bill;
(6)(A) Indian Tribes have--
(i) ceded or had taken from the Tribes millions of
acres of land to help build the United States; and
(ii) suffered under Federal assimilationist
policies that sought to destroy Tribal cultures;
(B) despite those policies, American Indians continue to
practice their religions as they have done for thousands of
years;
(C) American Indian places of worship, or sacred areas, are
often land-based, including mountains, streams, and trees; and
(D) as a result of previous Federal land policies that
resulted in the significant loss of land of Indian Tribes, many
sacred areas of the Tribes are currently located on Federal
land;
(7)(A) the United States has a trust responsibility
acknowledged by Congress to protect Tribal sacred areas on
Federal land, including pursuant to laws requiring meaningful
consultation with affected Indian Tribes before making
decisions that will impact American Indians; but
(B) in contradiction to those laws, section 3003 of the
Carl Levin and Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (16 U.S.C. 539p)
requires the mandatory conveyance of a Tribal sacred area
located on Federal land, regardless of the outcome of
consultation with affected Indian Tribes;
(8) section 3003 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. ``Buck''
McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015
(16 U.S.C. 539p)--
(A) was strongly opposed by Indian Tribes
throughout the United States because that section
establishes a dangerous legislative precedent for the
lack of protection of Tribal sacred areas located on
Federal land by mandating the conveyance of Federal
land with significant religious, cultural, historic,
and anthropological significance for Indian Tribes to a
private company that will destroy the land;
(B) circumvents standard environmental review
procedures that ensure that the public interest is
protected, including the interests of Indian Tribes;
and
(C) requires a mandatory conveyance of Oak Flat,
regardless of the findings resulting from the
environmental review process; and
(9) the inclusion in the Carl Levin and Howard P. ``Buck''
McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015
of section 3003 of that Act (16 U.S.C. 539p) establishes a
negative precedent for--
(A) the legislative process; and
(B) Federal Indian policy.
SEC. 3. REPEAL OF SOUTHEAST ARIZONA LAND EXCHANGE AND CONSERVATION
PROVISION.
Section 3003 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (16 U.S.C.
539p) is repealed.
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