Position on Senate Mining and Minerals Bills

Dear Chairman Lee, Ranking Member Heinrich, and the members of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee:

On behalf of our millions of members and supporters nationwide, the undersigned organizations write regarding the expansion of domestic mining on public lands and to share our concerns with the erosion of vital guardrails being proposed by the committee.

Since the creation of the National Park System, there has been tension between protecting our most special places for future generations and using our public lands for mineral extraction. Time and time again, as this conflict has played out, the defense of our national parks has been a strong nonpartisan effort. From Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, Canyonlands to Death Valley, and Katahdin Woods and Waters to Joshua Tree National Park, the American people have decided time and time again that these are places too special to have harmful mining projects developed nearby.

Polling shows that most people, across party lines, support the continued long-term conservation of national parks and public lands and oppose short-sighted efforts to exploit them for “mineral dominance.” Despite this near universal support for our parks and monuments, the current administration is systematically destroying the National Park Service and other land management agencies through extensive budget cuts and indiscriminate firings of the park staff who have devoted their lives to protecting these resources. These cuts dramatically reduce the ability of the National Park Service and other land managers to adequately protect sensitive resources from mining activities.

Mining in and near national parks

Under current law, if a national park is established on lands where active mining claims are already staked, the mining claim is preserved as an inholding and the surface activities on that claim become subject to the regulations of the National Park Service. The National Park Service has the legal authority to approve or deny plans of operation for mining on claims inside a park. New mining claims cannot be made within already established national parks. However, given the administration’s proposals to review monuments and potentially open more lands to mining, including lands previously withdrawn, the threat to our parks and monuments has never been greater.

According to a recent analysis by the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), there are over 1300 active mining claims within 15 national park units across 11 western states and Alaska. Thousands more claims sit directly on park doorsteps, threatening wildlife habitat, visitor experiences, local economies and vital water supplies.

Across the west and Alaska there are approximately:

• Over 2,000 active claims within national monuments managed by Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

• Over 120,000 active mining claims within 30 miles of a national park or monument, representing about 24 percent of all mining claims on public lands.

• Over 40,000 active claims within 10 miles of a national park or monument, representing around 6 percent of all mining claims on public lands.

The total number of mining claims on public land has increased about 27 percent since 2019, coinciding with growing calls for more domestic critical mineral production. While these claims are not all destined to become large mining operations, exploration activities like drilling and road building on these lands still pose a huge risk to resources protected by the National Park System.

There are particularly concerning amounts of ongoing and proposed exploration and mining activities in Southeastern Utah, around the California Desert, Southwestern Nevada, Western Colorado, the Gates of the Arctic and the greater Grand Canyon area that impact parks in those regions. Recent exploration for lithium, uranium, cobalt, rare earth elements and more all raise serious concerns for the potential impacts to water, air, wildlife, visitor experience and sensitive cultural resources at our national parks in these landscapes.

Addressing mining reform

We understand the importance of developing robust, responsible and resilient domestic supply chains for minerals. Clean energy, national security and essential infrastructure all rely on minerals. However, the existing framework for managing mining exploration and development on our public lands is not up to modern standards needed to reduce conflict with precious watersheds and special places like America’s national parks. Under the mining law of 1872 and the overlying regulatory landscape, multi-national mining corporations and speculators have near unlimited access to public land. This system, designed for the pick and shovel miner of the California gold rush, hands the responsibility of managing public lands over to companies looking to profit from them without providing for any fair return to the American taxpayer and with insufficient input from the local community and stakeholders.

With recent efforts to expand investment in domestic mining, cut permitting requirements and give away more public land to the mining industry, we are deeply concerned about the lack of proposals being considered that ensure our most special places are not harmed in the process. At a time when the National Park Service and other land management agencies are facing historic funding deficits and mass staff reductions, it is reckless to hand the mining industry even more advantages while gutting the enforcement mechanisms that protect our most special places. Mining companies are poised to exploit these weakened protections, placing irreplaceable landscapes, water resources and wildlife habitat at risk.

Throughout our nation’s long history, few ideas have been as profound as the National Park System. Across generations, even in times of economic and security challenges, Americans have recognized a simple but powerful truth: some places are too precious to sacrifice for profit—they belong to us all. Time and again, leaders have risen to affirm that these places should not be stripped for their minerals but serve a higher purpose, safeguarding our shared heritage. They have often kept that promise, passing it down like a sacred trust. It would be tragic if this were the generation that breaks that promise and stand by as these American cathedrals suffer irreversible harm. We urge you to evaluate all legislative proposals to ensure that the choices the committee makes today does not come at the cost of these irreplaceable landscapes.

As you consider legislation addressing domestic mining and mineral supply chains, we hope you will also address the systemic deficiencies with our mining systems to ensure we do not destroy these treasured places.

Thank you for considering our views.

Sincerely,

National Parks Conservation Association

Alaska Wilderness League

Arizona Mining Reform Coalition

Black Hills Preservation Project

California Native Plant Society

Californians for Western Wilderness

CalWild

Cherokee Concerned Citizens

Clean Air for All Now

Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks

Coastal Carolina Riverwatch

Colorado Wild Public Lands

Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship

Deer Tail Scientific

Defenders of Wildlife

Dolores River Boating Advocates

Earthworks

Friends of the Inyo

Friends of the Kalmiopsis

Gila Resources Information Project

Global Witness

Grand Canyon Foundation

Grand Canyon Trust

Great Basin Water Network

High Country Conservation Advocates

Idaho Conservation League

Idyllwild Forest Health Project

Malach Consulting

Marathon County Voices

Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment

Next 100 Coalition

Northern Alaska Environmental Center

Okanogan Highlands Alliance

Park County Environmental Council

Rock Creek Alliance

Satilla Riverkeeper

Save Our Cabinets

Sheep Mountain Alliance

Sierra Club

Silver Valley Community Resource Center

Soda Mountain Wilderness Council

Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance

The New Mexico Environmental Law Center

The Wilderness Society

Three Rivers Waterkeeper

Tuleyome

Upper Peninsula Environmental Coalition

WaterLegacy

Wild Hope

Wilderness Workshop

Wyoming Wildlife Advocates

Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve