Raúl Grijalva: “This legislation impacts the administration of about 18 million acres of public land.”

I am always pleased that this Committee is as bipartisan as it is in terms of finding solutions and working together for the issues that are presented here.

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

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 would address the long-standing inequities caused by the U.S. Supreme Court's 2009 decision in Carcieri v. Salazar.