The United States House of Representatives passed 216-195Wednesday’s bill that would loosen restrictions on mining activities, reversing last week’s vote to return the bill to committee.
The Bill, written by Nevada Republican Mark Amodea, explains that mining companies can conduct activities in support of mining on federal lands even without first documenting known mineral deposits. Replies 2022 federal appeals court ruling restricting mining companies from using federal lands without documented mineral deposits.
House controlled by Republicans rejected the bill last week, vote 210-206 to adopt a motion to re-refer the measure to the House Natural Resources Committee. Six Republicans joined all Democrats present in opposing the bill.
Lawmakers made no changes to the bill between the May 1 vote and Wednesday, but the presence Wednesday of several Republicans who were absent last week allowed the bill to pass on a second try.
“Why the hell are we back on the floor a week after we had a bipartisan vote to send this bad bill back to committee?” New Mexico Democrat Melanie Stansbury said during Wednesday’s debate.
Stansbury called the bill a gift to mining companies, including those in China and other countries.
Rep. Pete Stauber of Minnesota, who chairs the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources and who moderated Wednesday’s GOP debate, made no mention of last week’s vote but continued to advocate the bill as favorable to domestic mining interests.
Support for U.S. mining should be encouraged, especially as an alternative to importing Chinese minerals, he said. The country’s environmental and labor protections are stronger than in other countries, he said.
“I support fair labor standards, I support high environmental standards, I support increasing our national security,” Stauber said. “In short, I support domestic mining.”
The bill was to be referred to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling something Republicans disagreed with, Stauber said.
The ruling blocked a mining project in Arizona from dumping waste rock on U.S. Forest Service lands. The court found that the mining company’s claim regarding the Forest District’s land was groundless because it did not identify any valuable mineral deposits there.
Mining interests criticized the ruling, known as the Rosemont decision, for limiting operations on federal lands.
“It’s a simple solution,” Stauber said. “We believe the court made an error, so it’s our job to legislate.”
Debate in China
Stansbury said the bill could benefit subsidiaries of foreign mining companies, including Chinese companies.
This would allow Chinese companies to control U.S. federal lands, she said.
The author is Republican John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party correction to last month’s bill that would prohibit companies or subsidiaries from hostile countries from mining on federal lands.
The House Rules Committee refused to introduce the amendment in the proper order, as New Mexico Democrat Teresa Leger Fernandez noted on Wednesday.
Stauber said all companies operating in the U.S. must comply with labor and environmental standards.
He also addressed claims that the bill would provide an incentive for Chinese companies to take over federal land. The bill would not affect foreign mining activities in the U.S., which is already permitted under current law.
