Preserve the Traditional Cultural Place Chí’chil Biłdagoteel Historic District Act

Key Points

• This bill would protect Oak Flat (Chi'chil Biłdagoteel), a site sacred to Western Apache and other Native American Tribes, by permanently withdrawing the National Forest land from mining and mineral leasing. The area is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and holds deep cultural and religious significance.
• The bill would block Resolution Copper, a joint venture of foreign mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP, from building a mine that would create a 1.8-mile-wide crater 1,000 feet deep and destroy most of the 2,422 acres transferred to the company. The bill emphasizes that these foreign corporations primarily export minerals to China.
• The mine would consume over 250 billion gallons of groundwater over 40 years and create a toxic waste dump spanning approximately 15,000 acres to store 1.37 billion tons of toxic waste permanently. This could cause over 4 feet of land subsidence and drop groundwater levels by nearly 200 feet in some areas.
• The bill bans all mining-related activities on the National Forest land, including waste pipelines, power lines, utility development, road construction, and road expansion. It also requires the Secretary of Agriculture to preserve the land in its natural condition and prohibit any activity harming the area's physical or cultural integrity.
• The bill mandates government-to-government consultations with Indian Tribes and cooperative agreements to ensure tribal access for traditional activities like religious ceremonies, medicine gathering, and food collection on the protected land.

Votes

No votes have been recorded for this legislation yet.

Related Bills

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