II 

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. 

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 that— 

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 22:01 Jan 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S173.IS S173

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1 izes the approximately 2,422 acres of Forest Service 

2 land in the Tonto National Forest in southeastern 

3 Arizona commonly known as ‘‘Oak Flat’’ (referred 

4 to in this section as ‘‘Oak Flat’’), which is sacred to 

5 Indian Tribes in the region and listed in the Na6 tional Register of Historic Places, to be transferred 

7 to Resolution Copper Mining, LLC, a Delaware lim8 ited liability company (referred to in this section as 

9 ‘‘Resolution Copper’’); 

10 (2) Resolution Copper plans to hold Oak Flat 

11 privately for a mining project that will— 

12 (A) result in the physical destruction of 

13 Tribal sacred areas and deprive American Indi14 ans from practicing their religious ceremonies 

15 and other traditional practices; 

16 (B) create significant negative environ17 mental impacts by destroying Oak Flat and de18 pleting and contaminating precious water re19 sources; and 

20 (C) require significant quantities of water, 

21 which will— 

22 (i) likely affect the local hydrology, in23 cluding the underlying aquifer; and 

24 (ii) result in polluted water that will 

25 seep into drinking water supplies; 


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1 (3)(A) once Resolution Copper owns Oak Flat, 

2 Resolution Copper plans to use the highly destruc3 tive block cave mining method to remove 1 cubic 

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

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

6 earth without replacing any of the earth removed, 

7 because that is the cheapest form of mining; and 

8 (B) Resolution Copper admits that the surface 

9 of Oak Flat will subside and ultimately collapse, de10 stroying forever the Tribal sacred areas described in 

11 paragraph (2)(A); 

12 (4) the Tonto National Forest in which Oak 

13 Flat is located was established in 1905 from the an14 cestral homelands of American Indians, who were 

15 forcibly removed at gunpoint from Oak Flat and 

16 other areas of the Forest by the Army during the 

17 1880s and held as prisoners of war until the early 

18 1900s; 

19 (5)(A) section 3003 of the Carl Levin and How20 ard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National Defense Authoriza21 tion Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (16 U.S.C. 539p)— 

22 (i) was included in that Act without proper 

23 legislative process, in a manner that cir24 cumvented the will of the majority of Members 

25 of Congress; and 


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1 (ii) was originally introduced in the House 

2 of Representatives as H.R. 687 and in the Sen3 ate as S. 339 during the 113th Congress; 

4 (B) H.R. 687 was— 

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

6 Representatives for consideration twice; and 

7 (ii) pulled from consideration each time; 

8 (C) S. 339 was never considered— 

9 (i) by the Senate; or 

10 (ii) for mark-up by the Committee on En11 ergy and Natural Resources of the Senate; 

12 (D) section 3003 of the Carl Levin and Howard 

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

14 Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (16 U.S.C. 539p) was in15 cluded in that Act without majority support from ei16 ther the House of Representatives or the Senate; 

17 and 

18 (E) a proposed amendment to remove that sec19 tion was not allowed to be considered before passage 

20 of the bill; 

21 (6)(A) Indian Tribes have— 

22 (i) ceded or had taken from the Tribes mil23 lions of acres of land to help build the United 

24 States; and 


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1 (ii) suffered under Federal assimilationist 

2 policies that sought to destroy Tribal cultures; 

3 (B) despite those policies, American Indians 

4 continue to practice their religions as they have done 

5 for thousands of years; 

6 (C) American Indian places of worship, or sa7 cred areas, are often land-based, including moun8 tains, streams, and trees; and 

9 (D) as a result of previous Federal land policies 

10 that resulted in the significant loss of land of Indian 

11 Tribes, many sacred areas of the Tribes are cur12 rently located on Federal land; 

13 (7)(A) the United States has a trust responsi14 bility acknowledged by Congress to protect Tribal 

15 sacred areas on Federal land, including pursuant to 

16 laws requiring meaningful consultation with affected 

17 Indian Tribes before making decisions that will im18 pact American Indians; but 

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

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

21 National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 

22 2015 (16 U.S.C. 539p) requires the mandatory con23 veyance of a Tribal sacred area located on Federal 

24 land, regardless of the outcome of consultation with 

25 affected Indian Tribes; 


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1 (8) section 3003 of the Carl Levin and Howard 

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

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

4 (A) was strongly opposed by Indian Tribes 

5 throughout the United States because that sec6 tion establishes a dangerous legislative prece7 dent for the lack of protection of Tribal sacred 

8 areas located on Federal land by mandating the 

9 conveyance of Federal land with significant reli10 gious, cultural, historic, and anthropological 

11 significance for Indian Tribes to a private com12 pany that will destroy the land; 

13 (B) circumvents standard environmental 

14 review procedures that ensure that the public 

15 interest is protected, including the interests of 

16 Indian Tribes; and 

17 (C) requires a mandatory conveyance of 

18 Oak Flat, regardless of the findings resulting 

19 from the environmental review process; and 

20 (9) the inclusion in the Carl Levin and Howard 

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

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

23 (16 U.S.C. 539p) establishes a negative precedent 

24 for— 

25 (A) the legislative process; and 


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1 (B) Federal Indian policy. 

2 SEC. 3. REPEAL OF SOUTHEAST ARIZONA LAND EXCHANGE 

3 AND CONSERVATION PROVISION. 

4 Section 3003 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. 

5 ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for 

6 Fiscal Year 2015 (16 U.S.C. 539p) is repealed. 

Æ 


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