you hear repeatedly in this Congress and in this Committee of the dire dangers being presented at the southern border of this nation with fentanyl, human trafficking, organized crime, cartels...

My bill, the Clean Energy Mineral Reform Act, would do just that.

We cannot have meaningful tribal consultations as long as the mining industry has the automatic right to mine wherever they stake a claim.

We urge Congress to reject legislative proposals that make this colonial-era law worse.

This law would apply to all of our public lands, including national parks, wilderness areas, and BLM land.

You are hearing that correctly. Any American, or notably, any American subsidiary of a foreign company could have the exclusive rights to our public lands for about $10 per acre per year.

This bill is not just a give-away to the mining industry. It is a wholesale giveaway of our public lands.

Effective democratic governance depends upon informed public participation, and several international conventions and policy guidelines call for enhanced public participation in environmental management.

The bill gives anyone the ability to stake a mining claim, whether there are valuable minerals on the land or not.

Future exploration or mining activities at the site not only threatens the health and welfare of tribal members.

The mining industry, however, sits above all of that.

To me, the people, the first people of this country, the Native Americans, we are second-class citizens still.