(3) The Tonto National Forest in which Oak 
Flat is located was established in 1905 from the an-
cestral homelands of the Tonto Apache and other 
American Indians who were forcibly removed at gun-
point from the Oak Flat area and other areas of the 
Tonto National Forest by the United States Army 
in the 1880s and imprisoned in other areas, includ-
ing what is now the San Carlos Apache Reservation, 
located approximately 15 miles from Oak Flat, 
where Apaches were held as prisoners of war until 
the early 1900s. 
(4) Section 3003 was included in the Carl Levin 
and Howard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National Defense 
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 without 
proper legislative process and circumvented the will 
of the majority of Members of the House of Rep-
resentatives. Section 3003 was originally introduced 
in the House of Representatives as H.R. 687 and in 
the Senate as S. 339 in the 113th Congress. H.R. 
687 was brought to the floor of the House of Rep-
resentatives for consideration twice and was pulled 
from consideration both times. S. 339 was never 
considered by the Senate or even considered for 
mark up by the Senate Committee on Energy and 
Natural Resources. Section 3003 was then included 
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in the Carl Levin and Howard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon 
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 
2015 without majority support from either the 
House or Senate and an amendment to remove sec-
tion 3003 was not allowed to be considered. 
(5) American Indian tribes have ceded or have 
had taken from them millions of acres of land to 
help build the United States and have suffered 
under Federal assimilationist policies that sought to 
destroy tribal cultures. Despite these policies, Amer-
ican Indians continue to practice their religions as 
they have done for thousands of years. American In-
dian places of worship, or sacred areas, are often 
land based, including mountains, streams, and trees. 
As a result of previous Federal land policies that re-
sulted in the significant loss of lands of American 
Indian tribes, many sacred areas of tribes are now 
located on Federal lands. 
(6) The United States has a trust responsibility 
acknowledged by Congress to protect tribal sacred 
areas on Federal lands. These laws require meaning-
ful consultations with affected Indian tribes before 
making decisions that will impact American Indians. 
In contradiction to these laws, section 3003 requires 
the mandatory conveyance of a tribal sacred area lo-
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cated on Federal lands regardless of the outcome of 
consultation with affected Indian tribes. 
(7) Section 3003 was strongly opposed by In-
dian tribes nationwide because it sets dangerous leg-
islative precedent for the lack of protection of tribal 
sacred areas located on Federal lands by mandating 
the conveyance of Federal lands with significant reli-
gious, cultural, historic, and anthropological signifi-
cance for Indian tribes to a private company that 
will destroy the land. 
(8) Section 3003 circumvents standard environ-
mental review procedures that ensure that the public 
interest is protected, including the interests of In-
dian tribes. Section 3003 requires a mandatory con-
veyance of the Oak Flat area regardless of the find-
ings resulting from the environmental review proc-
ess. The mining project will require significant 
amounts of water that will likely affect the local hy-
drology, including the underlying aquifer, and will 
result in polluted water that will seep into drinking 
water supplies. 
(9) The inclusion of section 3003 in the Carl 
Levin and Howard P. ‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National De-
fense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 sets 
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negative precedent for legislative process and for 
Federal Indian policy. 
SEC. 3. REPEAL OF THE SOUTHEAST ARIZONA LAND EX-
CHANGE AND CONSERVATION. 
Section 3003 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. 
‘‘Buck’’ McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for 
Fiscal Year 2015 (Public Law 113–291) is repealed. 
Æ 
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