Following Procedural Embarrassment for Toxic Mining Free-For-All Bill, Grijalva Sends Chair Westerman Letter Opposing Attempts to Bypass Committee
WASHINGTON – U.S. House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) today sent a letter to Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) emphasizing the need for regular order for H.R. 2925, the so-called Mining Regulatory Clarity Act, which was sent back to the Natural Resources Committee after several Republicans broke ranks on the House floor and voted for a motion to recommit the bill.
Throughout his congressional career, Chair Westerman has consistently advocated for regular order, which in this case, would entail a new legislative hearing and full committee markup. However, recent reports suggest the bill will be brought back to the House floor as soon as next week.
In his letter, Ranking Member Grijalva highlighted concerns across both Democrats and Republicans about the lack of a guardrail to prevent foreign adversaries from exploiting our public lands in the bill:
This bill would allow anyone, even subsidiaries of the state-controlled companies of our foreign adversaries, to claim our open public lands for mining without even requiring them to prove an actual interest in mining on that land. This giveaway would let companies do whatever “mining-related” activity they want on those public lands, including dumping their toxic waste or blocking energy transmission projects.
It is no surprise, then, that we have seen bipartisan concerns about the foreign adversary loophole in our mining law and about the way that H.R. 2925 would widen that loophole. That’s why I have repeatedly offered amendments to prohibit foreign adversaries and other bad actors from exploiting our public lands.
Grijalva also points out how the passage of a straight motion to recommit, which has not occurred in decades, calls for reconsideration of the bill:
Sending a bill back to committee in this manner is a historic step not seen in more than 32 years.
Now that the bill is back in our committee, I would have hoped this would finally be the end of the road for this toxic mining free-for-all mess of a bill. And it is clearly the bipartisan will of the House that, if this bill is not entirely laid to bed, that at minimum it receive full and careful reconsideration by the Committee on Natural Resources, especially as to the foreign adversary loophole.
READ the full letter to Chairman Westerman here.
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