NCAI Action Alert

Sacred Site at Risk - Oppose H.R. 1904 in the Senate - Hearing Next Thursday

Next week on Thursday, February 9, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources will hold a full committee hearing to receive testimony on H.R. 1904, the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act of 2011. NCAI passed a resolution opposing H.R. 1904 this past November at its 2011 Annual Convention in Portland, Oregon.

H.R. 1904 represents a bill of national significance for Indian tribes across the country, as it would transfer a known sacred site into the private ownership of foreign mining companies and result in the destruction of the very elements of this place that make it a sacred site to Native peoples. The House of Representatives passed H.R. 1904 in October 2011, and it is critical that the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources know tribes oppose the legislation.

The hearing will be held at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, February 9, 2012, in Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 366 and will be webcast at http://energy.senate.gov on the day of the hearing. We encourage tribal leaders to attend the hearing if they will be in Washington DC.

We urge tribes to submit letters for the hearing record to voice opposition to H.R. 1904.

Click here to find a sample letter. The hearing record will be open until Thursday, February 23, at 6:00 p.m. EST, but it would be most effective to get them into the record by Tuesday, February 7th. Electronic copies of letters (Microsoft Word format preferred) should be sent to Jake McCook, Staff Assistant for the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, at Jake_McCook@energy.senate.gov.

Specifically, H.R. 1904 would direct the Secretary of Agriculture to convey over 2,400 acres of U.S. Forest Service land in southeast Arizona in an area known as Oak Flat to a mining company called Resolution Copper (RC), which is owned by the foreign mining giants Rio Tinto PLC (United Kingdom) and BHP Billiton Ltd (Australia). The mining company seeks to develop and operate an unprecedented large-scale copper mine on this land if it is conveyed to it by the Forest Service. Oak Flat is an area that has deep religious, cultural, archeological, historical, and environmental significance to Apaches, Yavapais, and other Tribes.

H.R. 1904 provides RCC with a special exemption from compliance with existing environmental and cultural resource protection federal laws, including NEPA. This exemption effectively allows RCC to withhold from the public critical information about the proposed mine or its impacts to the land, water, cultural resources, animals and plants. Oak Flat was specifically withdrawn from mining by President Eisenhower over fifty years ago. Despite the importance of the area to Tribes and the potential impacts of the mine, H.R. 1904 does not allow for meaningful consultation with Tribes.

The Senate Committee will be taking oral testimony from Shan Lewis, President, Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc., and Vice Chairman, Fort Mohave Indian Tribe. A number of other tribal representatives will be providing written testimony.

NCAI urges you to call, fax, or write to Senator Bingaman (D-NM), Chairman of the Senate Committee, as well as your own Senators, opposing H.R. 1904. Please ask your Senators to contact Senator Bingaman! Even if you have previously written a letter, it is always good to remind them again.

NCAI Contact Information: Robert Holden, Deputy Director - rholden@ncai.org; John Dossett, General Counsel - jdossett@ncai.org