FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS STATEMENT
Contact: Claire Hermann, chermann@earthworksaction.org, (202) 601-3043
Statement from Aaron Mintzes, Deputy Policy Director, Earthworks
The Mining Regulatory Clarity Act is the worst bill on the Hill right now for US communities on the frontlines of mining. It would remove the already meager protections for natural resources and sacred cultural sites that exist in US mining law.
Yesterday, that bill passed out of the Rules Committee in the US House of Representatives. It is expected to come up for a vote on the House floor later this week.
It would amount to a massive transfer of public lands to private companies. It would further tie the hands of federal agencies by making it all but impossible to object to any mining operations, even those likely to cause harm to natural and cultural resources.
Our existing US mining law was written more than 150 years ago, in 1872. It allows mining companies to come in, dig riches out of the ground without paying taxpayers for them, and leave the mess. Too often, taxpayers—not the polluters—are stuck with the bill for cleanup. Instead of solving these problems, the Mining Regulatory Clarity would make them worse.
The 2023 Interagency Working Group on Mining Laws, Regulations, and Permitting identified opportunities to close loopholes for foreign companies, improve environmental standards, and create competitive leasing to balance the nation’s clean energy mineral needs with other public land uses. Congress should turn its attention to true reforms to our mining laws.
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Related Resources: Urge your Representatives to vote “No” on the Mining Regulatory Clarity Act