Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act of 2011

Floor Speech

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Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Chairman, I'm afraid that this bill is another example of the majority having no real jobs agenda. The Republicans are claiming that this bill will create jobs in Arizona. And, of course, our whole country wants more jobs anywhere we can get them. But the truth is no one really knows the exact economic impact of this mine.

The only jobs number that we have to go on are those provided by Rio Tinto, the foreign parent company of Resolution Copper. When this proposal was first developed in 2005, it was reported that the mine would create about 450 jobs. Without any explanation, no data, no analysis, the estimates have skyrocketed to over 1,200 jobs or even 6,000 jobs. That sounds enticing, particularly to a country where we have 10 percent, 9 percent unemployment. But without any data to support it, it just seems like speculation. You could just say it's going to create a gazillion jobs. Why not? Anything to get the deal.

There's no way to know because the numbers are not supported by a mining plan of operations or impartial economic documentation of any kind. This bill is an affront to the National Environmental Policy Act. Under this legislation, by the time any environmental review or accurate job figures are available, the land will already be in private hands. In fact, there is no job requirement in the bill. There is no job requirement in the bill despite the vaunted promises of 6,000 jobs. This bill doesn't include any local jobs requirement from the mining company.

At a time when the whole country is looking to Congress to create much-needed jobs, and we really are vulnerable to any promises of jobs, our colleagues across the aisle should be focusing on creating jobs in America, not just large, vaunted promises that really have no background or substantiation. Our colleagues across the aisle are spending time in this House to create a special interest carve-out for a giant, multinational corporation. It's, by the way, owned by people outside the United States.

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