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Vote on Hr 687 Delayed! Keep up the Pressure Bill Would Urgent Action Alert | VOTE ON H.R. 687 DELAYED! KEEP UP THE PRESSURE BILL WOULD TRANSFER APACHE AND YAVAPAI SACRED AREAS ON FOREST LANDS TO MINING COMPANY VOTE RESCHEDULED FOR FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2013 at 9:30 AM Today the U.S. House of Representatives debated, H.R. 687, the SE Arizona Land Exchange, which would direct the Secretary of Agriculture to convey over 2,400 acres of U.S. Forest Service land in an area known as Oak Flat to a foreign owned mining company (Resolution Copper). The lands have significant religious, cultural, historical, and archeological value to Apache, Yavapai and other tribes in the region. If H.R. 687 is enacted, the mining company will operate an unprecedented large-scale copper mine, which will destroy this place of worship. Because of Indian Country’s collective efforts to voice strong opposition to the bill, the House of Representatives conducted a robust debate today on the bill and three amendments sponsored by Reps. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) and Grace Napolitano (D-CA) were offered, which included a passionate discussion of Congress’ obligation to protect Native sacred areas located on federal lands. The House voted on the amendments offered by Reps. Grijalva and Napolitano but then decided to delay the votes on the Lujan amendment and final passage of the bill. House leadership postponed the votes on the Lujan amendment to protect sacred and cultural areas and on the underlying bill due to the concern that the bill currently does not have enough votes for passage due to tribal opposition. This speaks to your hard work to defeat this bill. We understand that the vote on final passage of H.R. 687 has been delayed for 18 hours – until 9:30 AM on Friday, September 27, 2013. NOW IS THE TIME TO INCREASE THE PRESSURE IN CONGRESS TO STOP THIS BILL THAT WOULD DESTROY A NATIVE AMERICAN PLACE OF WORSHIP. As previously reported, H.R. 687 is a bill of national significance for Indian tribes as it is the only bill before Congress that would transfer a known sacred site into the private ownership of foreign mining companies and result in the destruction of a religion and way of life. H.R. 687 would set a dangerous precedent by saying that it is okay for Congress to destroy the core values of Native American religion, culture, and identity. Even if you have already done so, and more importantly if you have not, please consider calling, e- mailing and writing your Member of Congress today, urging them to vote "NO" on H.R. 687. Attached is a Draft Letter for your consideration and a one-page summary of tribal concerns. TELL CONGRESS TO VOTE "NO" ON H.R. 687 - A BILL THAT WILL TRANSFER TRIBAL SACRED AREAS ON FEDERAL FOREST LANDS TO A MINING COMPANY -- PLEASE CONTACT YOUR CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION VOTE SCHEDULED FOR THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2013 On Thursday, September 26, 2013, the House will consider H.R. 687, introduced by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ). This bill would convey 2,400 acres of Forest Service land in SE Arizona, including an area known as Oak Flat, to a mining company called Resolution Copper (RC), which is owned by foreign mining giants Rio Tinto PLC (United Kingdom) and BHP Billiton Ltd (Australia). This public land is a place of worship for the Apache, Yavapai, and other tribes in the region. Native Americans have prayed, gathered medical herbs and plants, healed in holy perennial springs, and performed religious ceremonies on this land for hundreds of years. The United States should ensure that they can continue to do so in perpetuity. However, if H.R. 687 is enacted, the mining activities proposed will destroy these places of worship. Under the bill, the conveyance of Oak Flat would be mandatory within one year of enactment -- circumventing government-to-government consultation with tribal governments and analyses of impacts to the area. RC seeks to use the cheaper and far more destructive block cave mining technique (imagine taking out floor-by-floor of a skyscraper without filling it back) to extract one cubic mile of copper (the equivalent of 1400 Texas Cowboys stadiums) from one mile beneath the surface of the earth. The surface of the earth above this massive mine will collapse (laws of gravity) and cause serious irreversible impacts to the surface and sub-surface water and to the terrain. The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Minerals Resources held a hearing on the H.R. 687 on March 21st, and then the full Committee held a mark up of the bill on May 15th. The bill was approved by a vote of 23-19 largely along party lines. Notably, Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) voted against H.R. 687 at the mark up. Also, Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI), Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), and Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) oppose this bill. The week before the mark up, Rep. Tom Cole and Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) circulated an e-colleague in the House discussing the importance of protecting tribal sacred sites located on federal lands in light of tribal concerns with H.R. 687. I have attached a copy of the Dear Colleague letter as well below. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) will offer an amendment to H.R. 687 that will exclude tribal sacred and cultural areas from the legislation. Last week, the House Rules Committee ruled that this amendment to H.R. 687 was in order and could proceed to the floor for consideration. The issue of sacred sites will be robustly debated on the House floor as part of H.R. 687. (AMENDMENT TO H.R. 687, AS REPORTED OFFERED BY MR. LUJAN OF NEW MEXICO Page 14, after Line 14, insert the following new sub-section: (k) EXCLUSION OF NATIVE AMERICAN SACRED AND CULTURAL SITES. – The Federal Land to be conveyed under this section shall not include any Native American sacred or cultural site, whether surface or subsurface, and the Secretary shall modify the map referred to in section 3(2) to exclude all such sacred and cultural sites, as identified by the Secretary in consultation with affected Indian tribes to determine appropriate measures necessary to protect and preserve sacred and cultural sites; provided further, that nothing in this Act shall limit access of affected tribes to these sacred and cultural sites.) Tribes and tribal organizations across the country have adopted resolutions and sent letters opposing H.R. 687, including the United South and Eastern Tribes, National Congress of American Indians, the Midwest Alliance of Sovereign Tribes, Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc., the Intertribal Council of Nevada, the All Indian Pueblo Council, the Eight Northern Indian Pueblo Council, the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, the California Assn of Tribal Governments, and the Great Plains Tribal Chairman's Association. Furthermore, the Town of Superior, a mining town located nearest to Oak Flat and the proposed mine, opposes this bill, as well as other nearby communities. Please call, email, and write your Congressional delegation urging them to vote "NO" on H.R. 687. Attached are a draft letter for your consideration to send to Congress, a list of tribes/tribal orgs/other orgs on the record opposing HR 687, and a one-pager opposing H.R. 687. Please feel free to share the list of opposition and one pager with your Members of Congress as you urge them to vote "NO". Attachments: 1) Draft letter to send to Members of Congress HR 687 - Draft Letter in Opposition 2) List of tribes/tribal orgs/other orgs opposing HR 687 (as of 9/24/13) List of Tribes/Tribal Orgs/Enviro-Religious Groups Opposing HR 687 3) General one-pager about the bill for information about H.R. 687 and to distribute to Members of Congress One Pager: VOTE NO on HR687 4) Tribal Letter from Feb 2013 opposing S339 & HR687 Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act of 2013 Tribal Letter to Congress Opposing HR687 & S339 Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act of 2013 February 2013 5) Dear Colleague Letter from Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) opposing HR687 Problems with HR 687, SE Arizona Land Exchange Regulatory Alert from NIGA - additional information about scheduled Thursday Vote on H.R. 687 http://www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN/ http://rules.house.gov/bill/113/hr-687 http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d113:HR687:/ .
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