I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2915 
To repeal section 3003 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon 
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 15, 2017 
Mr. GRIJALVA (for himself, Mr. COLE, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. JONES, Mrs. 
NAPOLITANO, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. POCAN, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Mr. 
BEYER, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. GALLEGO, 
Mrs. TORRES, Ms. NORTON, Ms. TSONGAS, Mr. TED LIEU of California, 
Ms. DELBENE, Mrs. DINGELL, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. KILMER, Mr. 
LOWENTHAL, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. POLIS, Mr. RUIZ, Mr. CUMMINGS, 
Mr. BEN RAY LUJA´N of New Mexico, Mr. HASTINGS, Ms. MICHELLE 
LUJAN GRISHAM of New Mexico, Mr. SABLAN, and Ms. HANABUSA) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Nat-
ural 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 Representa-
tives 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— 
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(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) author-
izes 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 is listed on the Na-
tional Register of Historic Places, to be transferred 
to Resolution Copper Mining, LLC, a Delaware lim-
ited 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 Indi-
ans from practicing their religions ceremonies 
and other traditional practices; 
(B) create significant negative environ-
mental impacts by destroying Oak Flat and de-
pleting and contaminating precious water re-
sources; and 
(C) require significant quantities of water, 
which will— 
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(i) likely affect the local hydrology, in-
cluding 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 destruc-
tive 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, de-
stroying forever the tribal sacred area described in 
paragraph (2)(A); 
(4) the Tonto National Forest in which Oak 
Flat is located was established in 1905 from the an-
cestral 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 imprisoned as prisoners of war until the 
early 1900s; 
(5)(A) section 3003 of the Carl Levin and How-
ard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National Defense Authoriza-
tion Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (16 U.S.C. 539p)— 
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(i) was included in that Act without proper 
legislative process, in a manner that cir-
cumvented the will of the majority of Members 
of the House of Representatives and the Sen-
ate; and 
(ii) was originally introduced in the House 
of Representatives as H.R. 687 and in the Sen-
ate 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 En-
ergy 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 in-
cluded in that Act without majority support from ei-
ther the House of Representatives or the Senate; 
and 
(E) a proposed amendment to remove that sec-
tion was not allowed to be considered before passage 
of the bill; 
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(6)(A) Indian tribes have— 
(i) ceded or had taken from the tribes mil-
lions 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 sa-
cred areas, are often land-based, including moun-
tains, 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 responsi-
bility acknowledged by Congress to protect tribal sa-
cred areas on Federal land, including pursuant to 
laws requiring meaningful consultation with affected 
Indian tribes before making decisions that will im-
pact 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 
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2015 (16 U.S.C. 539p) requires the mandatory con-
veyance 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 sec-
tion establishes a dangerous legislative prece-
dent for the lack of protection of tribal sacred 
areas located on Federal land by mandating the 
conveyance of Federal land with significant reli-
gious, cultural, historic, and anthropological 
significance for Indian tribes to a private com-
pany 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 
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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. 
Æ 
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