Nov 6, 2015 | Arizona Mining Oversight, Oak Flat Mining |
On November 5, 2015, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced a bill in the US Senate to repeal the Oak Flat land exchange (Section 3003 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2015). Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) are original co-sponsors of the bill. The number of the new bill is S. 2242 and is a companion bill to the House version (H.R. 2811) introduced in June, 2015 by Representative Grijalva (D-AZ) which now has 36 co-sponsors.
The new Senate bill is another example of growing support for the repeal of the Oak Flat land exchange which would give US public land at Oak Flat to a foreign mining company. Oak Flat is sacred and an ecological and recreational haven.
you can see a copy of S. 2242 here.
Nov 2, 2015 | Action Alert, Arizona Mining Oversight, Oak Flat Mining |
Please contact your Members of Congress today and ask them to cosponsor the Save Oak Flat Act to repeal Section 3003 of the National Defense Authorization Act.
Last December in the closing days of the 113th Congress in the dead of night, Rio Tinto’s Congressional supporters stuck the Oak Flat land exchange onto a must past national defense bill. The land exchange became Section 3003 of the defense bill. Section 3003 has nothing to do with national defense, but Rio Tinto’s supports knew that the land exchange would not pass on its own.
In June of this year, Congressman Grijalva from Arizona introduced HR 2811, the Save Oak Flat Act, which will repeal Section 3003 and keep Oak Flat as public land. As of now, 36 members of Congress from both parties have cosponsored this bill.
With your help, that number will grow and the bill will pass and protect Oak Flat!
Thanks,
Roger Featherstone, Director
