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. HASTINGS, 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 PATRICK 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. COURTNEY, 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, 


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Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. WILLIAMS 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 Committee 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. 


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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Save Oak Flat Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

6 Congress finds as follows: 

7 (1) 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) author10 izes Oak Flat, which is sacred to Indian Tribes in 

11 the region and is part of the larger Chı ́’chil 

12 Bi5dagoteel Traditional Cultural Property listed in 

13 the National Register of Historic Places, to be 

14 transferred to Resolution Copper. 

15 (2) Resolution Copper plans to hold Oak Flat 

16 privately for a mining project that will— 

17 (A) result in the physical destruction of 

18 Tribal sacred areas and deprive American Indi19 ans from practicing their religious ceremonies 

20 and other traditional practices; 

21 (B) create significant negative environ22 mental impacts by destroying Oak Flat and de23 pleting and contaminating precious water re24 sources; and 


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1 (C) require significant quantities of water, 

2 which will— 

3 (i) likely affect the local hydrology, in4 cluding the underlying aquifer; and 

5 (ii) result in polluted water that will 

6 seep into drinking water supplies. 

7 (3)(A) Once Resolution Copper owns Oak Flat, 

8 Resolution Copper plans to use the highly destruc9 tive block cave mining method to remove 1 cubic 

10 mile of ore that (as of the date of enactment of this 

11 Act) is located 7,000 feet beneath the surface of the 

12 earth without replacing any of the earth removed, 

13 because that is the cheapest form of mining. 

14 (B) Resolution Copper admits that the surface 

15 of Oak Flat will subside and ultimately collapse, de16 stroying forever the Tribal sacred areas described in 

17 paragraph (2)(A). 

18 (4) The Tonto National Forest in which Oak 

19 Flat is located was established in 1905 from the an20 cestral homelands of American Indians, who were 

21 forcibly removed at gunpoint from Oak Flat and 

22 other areas of the Forest by the Army during the 

23 1880s and held as prisoners of war until the early 

24 1900s. 


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1 (5)(A) Section 3003 of the Carl Levin and 

2 Howard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National Defense Au3 thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (16 U.S.C. 

4 539p)— 

5 (i) was included in that Act without proper 

6 legislative process, in a manner that cir7 cumvented the will of the majority of Members 

8 of Congress; and 

9 (ii) was originally introduced in the House 

10 of Representatives as H.R. 687 and in the Sen11 ate as S. 339 during the 113th Congress. 

12 (B) H.R. 687 was— 

13 (i) brought to the floor of the House of 

14 Representatives for consideration twice; and 

15 (ii) pulled from consideration each time. 

16 (C) S. 339 was never considered— 

17 (i) by the Senate; or 

18 (ii) for mark-up by the Committee on En19 ergy and Natural Resources of the Senate. 

20 (D) Section 3003 of the Carl Levin and How21 ard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National Defense Authoriza22 tion Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (16 U.S.C. 539p) was 

23 included in that Act without majority support from 

24 either the House of Representatives or the Senate. 


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1 (E) A proposed amendment to remove that sec2 tion was not allowed to be considered before passage 

3 of the bill. 

4 (6)(A) Indian Tribes have— 

5 (i) ceded or had taken from the Tribes mil6 lions of acres of land to help build the United 

7 States; and 

8 (ii) suffered under Federal assimilationist 

9 policies that sought to destroy Tribal cultures. 

10 (B) Despite those policies, American Indians 

11 continue to practice their religions as they have done 

12 for thousands of years. 

13 (C) American Indian places of worship, or sa14 cred areas, are often land-based, including moun15 tains, streams, and trees. 

16 (D) As a result of previous Federal land poli17 cies that resulted in the significant loss of land of 

18 Indian Tribes, many sacred areas of the Tribes are 

19 currently located on Federal land. 

20 (7)(A) The United States has a trust responsi21 bility acknowledged by Congress to protect Tribal 

22 sacred areas on Federal land, including pursuant to 

23 laws requiring meaningful consultation with affected 

24 Indian Tribes before making decisions that will im25 pact American Indians; but 


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1 (B) in contradiction to those laws, section 3003 

2 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon 

3 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 

4 2015 (16 U.S.C. 539p) requires the mandatory con5 veyance of a Tribal sacred area located on Federal 

6 land, regardless of the outcome of consultation with 

7 affected Indian Tribes. 

8 (8) Section 3003 of the Carl Levin and Howard 

9 P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National Defense Authorization 

10 Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (16 U.S.C. 539p)— 

11 (A) was strongly opposed by Indian Tribes 

12 throughout the United States because that sec13 tion establishes a dangerous legislative prece14 dent for the lack of protection of Tribal sacred 

15 areas located on Federal land by mandating the 

16 conveyance of Federal land with significant reli17 gious, cultural, historic, and anthropological 

18 significance for Indian Tribes to a private com19 pany that will destroy the land; 

20 (B) circumvents standard environmental 

21 review procedures that ensure that the public 

22 interest is protected, including the interests of 

23 Indian Tribes; and 


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1 (C) requires a mandatory conveyance of 

2 Oak Flat, regardless of the findings resulting 

3 from the environmental review process. 

4 (9) The inclusion in the Carl Levin and Howard 

5 P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National Defense Authorization 

6 Act for Fiscal Year 2015 of section 3003 of that Act 

7 (16 U.S.C. 539p) establishes a negative precedent 

8 for— 

9 (A) the legislative process; and 

10 (B) Federal Indian policy. 

11 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

12 In the Act: 

13 (1) OAK FLAT.—The term ‘‘Oak Flat’’ means 

14 the approximately 2,422 acres of Forest System 

15 land in the Tonto National Forest in southeastern 

16 Arizona commonly known as ‘‘Oak Flat’’ and gen17 erally depicted as ‘‘Oak Flat Withdrawal Area’’ on 

18 the map titled ‘‘Save Oak Flat Act of 2021’’ and 

19 dated March 15, 2021. 

20 (2) RESOLUTION COPPER.—The term ‘‘Resolu21 tion Copper’’ means Resolution Copper Mining, 

22 LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. 

23 SEC. 4. REPEAL AND WITHDRAWAL. 

24 (a) REPEAL.—Section 3003 of the Carl Levin and 

25 Howard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National Defense AuthorizaVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Dec 08, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1884.RH H1884

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1 tion Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (16 U.S.C. 539p) is re2 pealed. 

3 (b) WITHDRAWAL.—Subject to valid rights in exist4 ence on the date of the enactment of this Act, Oak Flat 

5 is withdrawn from all forms of— 

6 (1) entry, appropriation, or disposal under the 

7 public land laws; 

8 (2) location, entry, and patent under the mining 

9 laws; and 

10 (3) disposition under all laws pertaining to min11 eral and geothermal leasing or mineral materials. 


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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 Howother purposes. thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015, and for ard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National Defense AuDECEMBER 7, 2022 

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 

State of the Union and ordered to be printed 


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