WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressional Western Caucus Chairman Doug LaMalfa (CA-01) and Vice Chair Mark Amodei (NV-02) made the following statements after the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1366, the Mining Regulatory Clarity Act on a bipartisan vote of 219-198.
"Every product we use on a daily basis comes from the metals and materials we extract from the land. But wise extraction means knowing what's actually in the ground," said Chairman LaMalfa. "The bill we passed today will restore the intent of our mining laws, which were used successfully for over a hundred years. Environmental groups succeeded in getting a court to rule against decades of precedent supporting exploration for mineral deposits. This fix will be an important provision in all our permitting reform legislation throughout the rest of this Congress."
“Strengthening our domestic mineral supply chain isn’t optional, it’s demanded to ensure we don’t fall further behind China,” said Vice Chair Mark Amodei. “Western states are sitting on a wealth of resources and a critical opportunity to break our dangerous reliance on foreign adversaries while powering our own economy. The Mining Regulatory Clarity Act restores decades of established precedent, repairs a permitting process undermined by the Rosemont decision, and gives domestic mining operations the certainty they need to compete aggressively and win. I’m glad to see the House pass this bill once again with bipartisan support, and I urge the Senate to act swiftly to get it signed into law.”
Background
The Mining Regulatory Clarity Act, sometimes referred to as the “Rosemont fix,” is a response to a May 2022 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit which revoked an approved U.S. Forest Service mine plan of operation for the Rosemont Copper Mine Project, and required the Forest Service to only allow use of public lands for ancillary (or supportive) facilities to a mine if the economic viability of the mine had already been established. In effect, this ruling substantially changed how the Forest Service treated exploration for mining claims by stopping the use of land for operationally necessary purposes, such as waste rock and tailings, before economic viability of a potential mine has been established.
H.R. 1366, the Mining Regulatory Clarity Act
- Allows nearby public lands to be used for ancillary, or supportive, activities of a mine site, regardless of whether economically viable mineral deposits have been confirmed.
- Establishes the Abandoned Hardrock Mine Fund to clean up legacy mining sites, supporting the program created in Section 40704 of P.L. 117-58, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
- The fund will collect revenues from claim maintenance fees paid by the mining operators for the new ancillary mill sites authorized by this legislation.
Earlier this year, Vice Chair Mark Amodei authored a post about the Mining Regulatory Clarity Act on the Congressional Western Caucus Branded Blog, which you can read
here.
