Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act of 2013

Floor Speech

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Mr. GOSAR. Thank you, Chairman Hastings. I appreciate the House spending time to consider this important jobs legislation this week.

My home State of Arizona is known for its five Cs: cattle, citrus, climate, cotton, and, ultimately, copper. People have been digging in Arizona for precious metals like copper for centuries. In the 1850s, nearly one in every four people in Arizona were miners. Without a doubt, miners fueled the growth that makes Arizona the State it is today.

Today, the Arizona mining industry is alive, but it's not what it used to be. Nevertheless, a wide array of other minerals, such as copper, coal, uranium, lime, and potash, are mined throughout my district. These projects employ hundreds of my constituents with high-paying jobs, jobs that pay over $50,000 to $60,000 a year, plus benefits. In rural Arizona, those types of jobs are few and far between.

Rural Arizonans recognize the major benefits this project will bring to our region and our State, which is why it was one of the first initiatives brought to my attention when I came to Congress. The Southwest Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act is a bill that protects important, environmentally sensitive lands in the State and opens up over 3,700 jobs at Resolution Copper Mine.

My legislation is the result of years of negotiation and compromise that achieves a careful balance between conservation and resource utilizations, and Arizonans just want Congress to get it done. That is why my colleague on the other side of the aisle, Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick, and I came together at the beginning of this Congress and jointly introduced this legislation.

In fact, just last week, the largest paper in the State of Arizona, The Arizona Republic, issued an op-ed on House consideration of our bill. In the column, entitled, ``Stop Dawdling on Resolution Copper,'' the editorial board stated:

Congress needs to get this done. A copper mine proposed near Superior is a winner. It has bipartisan support from Arizona's congressional delegation. (How often does that happen?) It also has the potential to be an economic bonanza for our State and a national security boon to our country. The proposal has been around so long it has old-timer status in Arizona. Congressional approval is overdue for the land swap necessary to make this happen.

I guess that says it all. Our bill is a win-win for Arizona. That is why it has strong bipartisan support in Arizona and across the Nation. That support includes Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, four-fifths of the highly polarized Arizona Legislature, nearly every municipal government in central and southern Arizona, national business interests like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the general contractors, the truckers and the manufacturers, and conservation organizations like the Sonoran Institute and the Arizona Game and Fish Commission.

Why so much buzz about this project, you ask? It's called jobs, jobs, and jobs.

Upon passage of the bill, Resolution Copper estimates it will be able to employ nearly 3,000 workers during a 6-year construction period, and that's just the start. The mine, given the company's mine plan of operation when it complies with all environmental laws, will directly employ around 1,400 people. These are high-paying jobs ranging from $40,000 to $120,000 salaries per year in a region that is struggling economically.

As many people familiar with mining communities know, an influx of over 1,000 mining jobs will spur additional economic growth in a community. These mine workers need restaurants to eat at, convenience stores to shop at, and homes to live in. A recent economic study estimates an additional 2,300 jobs could be created due to these demands. That brings the estimated total number of permanent jobs resulting from this legislation to about 3,700.

Overall, independent analysis estimates that the total economic impact of the project will be around $61 billion. That is over $1 billion per year over the life of the mine, which equates to over $19 billion in Federal, State, county, and local tax revenue--$19 billion in tax revenue. In these tough fiscal times, I think we can all agree that local governments, and certainly the U.S. Treasury, could use those funds.

This legislation also has national security implications. The U.S. currently imports 30 percent of its copper, and its demand is skyrocketing. This critical mineral is used in virtually all modern-day technology, ranging from renewable energy and hybrid cars to your everyday electronics like cell phones and iPods. Our country must use domestic resources to meet this growing demand, and this project, as was said earlier, could yield enough cooper to yield 25 percent of our current demand.

This legislation is not only a jobs bill, it's a conservation bill. The lands the Federal Government acquires in the exchange are highly coveted recreational and conservation lands. It protects one of the few remaining undammed rivers in Arizona, the San Pedro River. The Dripping Springs property is a superb hiking and climbing location. The Cave Creek property will protect a riparian corridor, as well as numerous archaeological sites.

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Mr. GOSAR. And nearly 100 acres of private land adjacent to the culturally important Apache Leap is being placed into Federal stewardship.

This proposal truly has bipartisan support on the ground in our State and across the country. We can preserve lands that advance the public interests and objectives of protecting wildlife habitat, cultural and historical resources, while enabling development of a project that will generate significant economic and employment opportunities for State and local residents. I hope it will garner your support.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 687, the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act.

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Mr. GOSAR. Mr. Chairman, I want to reiterate that this isn't a new mine. This mine of operations exists currently there today.

The modern-day practices Resolution Copper plans to implement at the Pinal County site are not new. Many mines across the world implement them. In fact, there is a similar project, albeit half the size of our proposed project, that uses the same strategy and technology and employs nearly 1,000 people. That is real-life proof that humans will work at this mine at the site in Arizona.

I thank the chairman for yielding me time.

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Mr. GOSAR. I thank the chairman for allowing me to briefly address this amendment.

Mr. Chairman, the Lujan amendment is well-intentioned but misguided. It would put forth a policy that would undermine existing law that ensures tribal consultation and protection of sacred sites. By giving the Secretary of the Interior unilateral discretion to determine what a sacred site is, Congress would unwittingly undermine a variety of public laws Congress put in place to protect verified sacred sites.

Let me be clear that this land exchange is crafted in such a way as to protect relevant Native American historical and cultural sites. Section 4(i) and 4(j) explicitly require compliance with Federal environmental laws and regulations pertaining to conveyances of Federal land and approval of mine plan of operation. That includes the National Historic Preservation Act, Endangered Species Act, and executive orders pertaining to wetlands, floodplains, and hazardous material surveys.

I see my colleague may have a picture of Apache Leap. My bill explicitly protects Apache Leap. The bill protects Apache Leap by the following:

It conveys 110 acres of Apache Leap currently owned by Resolution Copper to the U.S. Forest Service, section 5(a)(e); it explicitly prohibits any type of extraction activity at Apache Leap, section 5(c); withdrawing Apache Leap and any land acquired by the U.S. under this act, section 7; requiring the Secretary to develop a management plan for Apache Leap that preserves the natural character of the site and protects agricultural and cultural resources, section 8.

Before I conclude, I want to underscore, H.R. 687 does not exchange any reservation lands. The next Federal parcel is located over 20 miles from the boundaries of the San Carlos Apache Tribe's reservation. While well-intentioned, the Lujan amendment actually undermines that very mission.

Please join me in opposing the amendment.

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Mr. GOSAR. Mr. Chairman, this is another amendment that's well-intentioned but misguided. An amendment to include a savings clause assumes that my legislation circumvents existing laws protecting water quality and availability. That is simply not the case.

The NEPA process on the mine plan of operation required by my legislation will be managed by the United States Forest Service, where they oversee an independent third-party consultant to assess all environmental impacts of the proposed resolution project, including impacts to groundwater and surface water.

The NEPA process allows for considerable public as well as other Federal EPA, State, county, and local input all along the way. Any issues pertaining to water will be addressed once Resolution Copper files a mine plan of operation and the subsequent State and Federal and environmental analysis is conducted, in accordance with existing law. This is like government overseeing government. That's ludicrous.

And I ask my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this amendment.

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