II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 915 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 23, 2021 

Mr. SANDERS 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, and for other purposes. 

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) authorVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:03 Apr 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S915.IS S915

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1 izes Oak Flat, which is sacred to Indian Tribes in 

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

3 Bi5dagoteel Traditional Cultural Property listed in 

4 the National Register of Historic Places, to be 

5 transferred to Resolution Copper. 

6 (2) Resolution Copper plans to hold Oak Flat 

7 privately for a mining project that will— 

8 (A) result in the physical destruction of 

9 Tribal sacred areas and deprive American Indi10 ans from practicing their religious ceremonies 

11 and other traditional practices; 

12 (B) create significant negative environ13 mental impacts by destroying Oak Flat and de14 pleting and contaminating precious water re15 sources; and 

16 (C) require significant quantities of water, 

17 which will— 

18 (i) likely affect the local hydrology, in19 cluding the underlying aquifer; and 

20 (ii) result in polluted water that will 

21 seep into drinking water supplies. 

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

23 Resolution Copper plans to use the highly destruc24 tive block cave mining method to remove 1 cubic 

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


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

2 earth without replacing any of the earth removed, 

3 because that is the cheapest form of mining. 

4 (B) Resolution Copper admits that the surface 

5 of Oak Flat will subside and ultimately collapse, de6 stroying forever the Tribal sacred areas described in 

7 paragraph (2)(A). 

8 (4) The Tonto National Forest in which Oak 

9 Flat is located was established in 1905 from the an10 cestral homelands of American Indians, who were 

11 forcibly removed at gunpoint from Oak Flat and 

12 other areas of the Forest by the Army during the 

13 1880s and held as prisoners of war until the early 

14 1900s. 

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

16 Howard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National Defense Au17 thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (16 U.S.C. 

18 539p)— 

19 (i) was included in that Act without proper 

20 legislative process, in a manner that cir21 cumvented the will of the majority of Members 

22 of Congress; and 

23 (ii) was originally introduced in the House 

24 of Representatives as H.R. 687 and in the Sen25 ate as S. 339 during the 113th Congress. 


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1 (B) H.R. 687 was— 

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

3 Representatives for consideration twice; and 

4 (ii) pulled from consideration each time. 

5 (C) S. 339 was never considered— 

6 (i) by the Senate; or 

7 (ii) for mark-up by the Committee on En8 ergy and Natural Resources of the Senate. 

9 (D) Section 3003 of the Carl Levin and How10 ard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National Defense Authoriza11 tion Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (16 U.S.C. 539p) was 

12 included in that Act without majority support from 

13 either the House of Representatives or the Senate. 

14 (E) A proposed amendment to remove that sec15 tion was not allowed to be considered before passage 

16 of the bill. 

17 (6)(A) Indian Tribes have— 

18 (i) ceded or had taken from the Tribes mil19 lions of acres of land to help build the United 

20 States; and 

21 (ii) suffered under Federal assimilationist 

22 policies that sought to destroy Tribal cultures. 

23 (B) Despite those policies, American Indians 

24 continue to practice their religions as they have done 

25 for thousands of years. 


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1 (C) American Indian places of worship, or sa2 cred areas, are often land-based, including moun3 tains, streams, and trees. 

4 (D) As a result of previous Federal land poli5 cies that resulted in the significant loss of land of 

6 Indian Tribes, many sacred areas of the Tribes are 

7 currently located on Federal land. 

8 (7)(A) The United States has a trust responsi9 bility acknowledged by Congress to protect Tribal 

10 sacred areas on Federal land, including pursuant to 

11 laws requiring meaningful consultation with affected 

12 Indian Tribes before making decisions that will im13 pact American Indians; but 

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

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

16 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 

17 2015 (16 U.S.C. 539p) requires the mandatory con18 veyance of a Tribal sacred area located on Federal 

19 land, regardless of the outcome of consultation with 

20 affected Indian Tribes. 

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

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

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

24 (A) was strongly opposed by Indian Tribes 

25 throughout the United States because that secVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:03 Apr 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S915.IS S915

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1 tion establishes a dangerous legislative prece2 dent for the lack of protection of Tribal sacred 

3 areas located on Federal land by mandating the 

4 conveyance of Federal land with significant reli5 gious, cultural, historic, and anthropological 

6 significance for Indian Tribes to a private com7 pany that will destroy the land; 

8 (B) circumvents standard environmental 

9 review procedures that ensure that the public 

10 interest is protected, including the interests of 

11 Indian Tribes; and 

12 (C) requires a mandatory conveyance of 

13 Oak Flat, regardless of the findings resulting 

14 from the environmental review process. 

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

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

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

18 (16 U.S.C. 539p) establishes a negative precedent 

19 for— 

20 (A) the legislative process; and 

21 (B) Federal Indian policy. 

22 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

23 In this Act: 

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

25 the approximately 2,422 acres of Forest Service land 


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1 in the Tonto National Forest in southeastern Ari2 zona commonly known as ‘‘Oak Flat’’ and generally 

3 depicted as ‘‘Oak Flat Withdrawal Area’’ on the 

4 map entitled ‘‘Save Oak Flat Act of 2021’’ and 

5 dated March 15, 2021. 

6 (2) RESOLUTION COPPER.—The term ‘‘Resolu7 tion Copper’’ means Resolution Copper Mining, 

8 LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. 

9 SEC. 4. REPEAL AND WITHDRAWAL. 

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

11 Howard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National Defense Authoriza12 tion Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (16 U.S.C. 539p) is re13 pealed. 

14 (b) WITHDRAWAL.—Subject to valid rights in exist15 ence on the date of enactment of this Act, Oak Flat is 

16 withdrawn from all forms of— 

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

18 public land laws; 

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

20 laws; and 

21 (3) disposition under all laws pertaining to min22 eral and geothermal leasing or mineral materials. 

Æ 


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