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URGENT ACTION | Mining Regulatory Clarity Act

Photo credit: Center for Biological Diversity. Exploration drilling for Copper World on west side of the Santa Rita Mountains.

Updated: 5/7/2024


Thanks so much to all of you Guardians of the Scenic Santa Ritas who responded to our urgent alert last week to contact a list of five key Democratic members of the House of Representatives to ask them to note “no” on the Mining Regulatory Clarity Act, H.R. 2925. Thanks for helping put the pressure on!

 

The House vote was supposed to take place last Wednesday but was postponed. We expect the bill back on the floor for a vote Wednesday, May 8.

 

ACTIONS

 

>> Even if you reached out to our list of the five key Democratic Representatives last week, it could help todo so again today. Urge them to vote No on HR 2925, the Mining Regulatory Clarity Act. We’ve supplied their email addresses again below.

 

 

 

>> A phone call to your House representative would also help. You can find the phone number here: House of Representatives phone number. No need to contact Representative Grijálva, since he is a staunch opponent.

 

>> Send your Representative an email. For a simple way to send your email, use this link provided by Earthjustice >> https://bit.ly/3wiCPKm. It will take you to a form where you can sign up to send an email. Based on your address, the website will automatically find your own representative, e.g., Ciscomani, and provide a standard message to send your representative.

 

 

BACKGROUND

 

If this bill were to become law, it would be the biggest public land giveaway since the 1872 Mining Law itself. This bill would amend the 1872 law to allow mines to use any public land that is not closed to mining (like National Parks) for any purpose associated with their mining activities. This includes land where the mining company does not have valid mining claims, and would allow activities that include “construction and maintenance of any road, transmission line, pipeline, or any other necessary infrastructure or means of access on public land for a support facility.

 

In our case, this means they could claim National Forest land on the east side of the Santa Ritas for their tailings piles. If you imagine any mine in the country being able to take whatever land they want, you can see how the results would be disastrous.


 

 

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