Gaan Canyon Vegetation and WaterYour action is needed now to stop a compromise on the Oak Flat land exchange bill (S. 409) that is schedule to be marked up in the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee on December 16th along with 35 other bills.
This remarkable display of speed was brought about by a deal cut between Senator John McCain of Arizona who has been championing Rio Tinto’s special interest legislation to help him get re-elected to the Senate next year, and Energy & Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico.
Although Senator Bingaman promised Tribal leaders in a meeting following the Bill’s hearing in June that he would consult with them before any movement of the bill, this deal was struck without input from the Tribes. In fact, bill language was only shared to a few select groups and then only at the strong insistence to see language and after a promise was extracted not to share the language widely.
What we do know about this deal is troubling.
Please contact members of the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee and ask them to oppose any consideration of this amendment.