Legislation that chairman subcommittee Gary. Not today very importantly, we wanted to I'm inviting you now Talk about the importance of the legislation you know, I was thinking about what to say about something And all of a sudden the money lobby signing the law basically what I tell people is go out there your free and that's still the practice right now and what this is not about an extinction of an industry as the opponents of the legislation would say this is about fundamental Catching up the time and catching up with the situations that are It's, not the Old West It's, the New West different demands for the use of our natural resources Think of conservation and protection This law is not accommodating fetching and this law needs to change The reforms of this is that that we provide a multi use concept for a public plans with the same requirements of evaluation study impact consultation with tribes Process as opposed to the close We charge royalties like any other extraction Well point live for new percent for existing and exemptions for Mythical group stickers are out there under Looking for precious metals anybody that liked less than $50000 Activities to six we're trying to protect All everybody has a National view judges in a very influential Just just Step Some clarity some honesty some reality Both days About the environment So everyone is happy Romania That's That's, the legislation generally and I wanna thank For his companion legislation in the Senate Dear Friend lived in the House before this Committee together Helped me a great deal and I We have a gratitude, but at the same time I need a ship Senate resolution reform It's, a jacket and beyond that the leader of the issue and I want to thank you and invite Roll, thank you for calling chairman Graham Thank you for pulling us all together today Congressman Allen great to be here with you great to be here with all the advocates and their wonderful signs Explain what's going on here and with Percy Anderson from the Navajo Nation first Home State. But the nation is across three States in the West of the largest Reservation in the country who are here today because the American people are being taken to the cleaners by our antiquated, mining loss and they're being left with a mess The back in 1872 and I wanted to hear We'll talk a little bit about the history here What was going on in 1872 and 1972 in my home state of New Mexico It was a good 40 years and joining the Union all the way back to them. Dreaming of westward expansion Congress handed out a free ride or hard rock mines If you can locate minerals on public land and the land in the Middle for yours without royalty With the poultry feed it was an incentive system to encourage individual miners like the 40 Niners to move to the vast unknown the American But the West is long since been settled and those minors are now mining big corporations many of them foreign old billionaire investors and they are moving our couple plans they're, taking the gold silver and copper without pain And meanwhile our morning walls are stuck in the wild When my father left his post as interior Secretary he kept itself particularly strong by the way about over a hobo was only time. I remember him endorsing somebody in the Democratic primary But my father, when he left, he said mining reform was his greatest 50 years ago 50 years ago It's well past time for our mining laws to change coal miners have to pay royalty Public so do oil and gas companies get the hard rock mining industry continues yeah and outrageous sweetheart Unlike any other industry As my uncle used to say It's like a real estate flyer sale without the fire hard rock finding industry pay its fair share not just to repay the American public of mining their members, but also to address the steep environmental toll We have hundreds of thousands of abandoned mines littering the West leaving behind in their way contaminated land polluted streams and depleted water shelves by one estimate over 15 million gallons of toxic waste water flows from abandoned mines in Most abandoned mines are a terrible legacy of terribly outdated Mining companies reap the profits and they stuck the American taxpayer with a cleanup Hands of billions of dollars the miners get the gold The taxpayers get the shaft we're here to end put an end to all of them to finally reform our antiquated money walls I've been working on this issue with all for a long time I was working on it when I was in the House We now have the momentum among the big mall is on our side we're going to get this done Mining companies want to profit from the American People's Way up Then they need to pay their fair share and clean up With that let me turn it over to Congressman Allen Allen is the chair of the House Resources Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee. I know Who's labored long on this piece of legislation and he's, got a very, very good law, and we were all of us in the House and Senate people Forward to working together getting this Thank you thank you Senator. You all thank you chairman for your leadership on delicious Thank everybody here for joining us today you know the shade that are our current mining laws or any way to understand that You've already heard today's minds are regulated by a law that was passed in 1870 - 247 California and The goals in state with the 40 Niners got their name That's really where I'm from, and you know think about it 1870 -. Two. It was set only seven years after the Civil War. The nation was badly divided. President Grant had decided that it was really important to push for Westwood development for the nation to come together to move to the West and he did it by providing free land Miners to help to settle the West and but I have a breaking news for everyone today I'm So glad you're here the West has been settled or any breaking news. I understand very excited about it But that was the purpose of this 1147 years to settle the West and I'm here to tell you it has physical So now. The Hard walk and reclamation act of 2019, which about to be an original cosponsor which I'm sharing Hearing just right after this press conference later this morning the fun needed updates reminding out of the last century into the 20 first century out of two seconds The face of mining is awesome radical changes Nineteenth century Member and that time odd rock mining was gone my independent prospector with a pick and a shovel What is mining today Always Mining today is a multi billion dollar industry run by mostly boring corporations in which our international conglomerates and this creates because there is no regulation This has created massive scars on the American landscape A hard rock mining industry is the number one polluters in the United States roughly 50 million gallons of toxic waste, more of the equivalent of over 2000 tanker trucks it close Hundreds of thousands of hard rock by site every single day unlike with cold hard work finding the industry does not have to take They also pay no royalties for the resources that they yet as was pointed out over 300 billion dollars of gold, silver copper and other minerals have been taken from public lands recently without one God coming back to the American taxpayer women allowed on competent barn companies clamoring to a track resources freely from our public land Then we must change that idea and that concept and say that the American taxpayer must be fairly compensate Our public lands belong to all Americans and we're more and more aware of that every single day To protect our public lands and so corporate interest should not be allowed to take advantage of our mistakes by allowing antiquated laws to stay on the books It's, not viable It's all of It's about time to change it and That's. Why we're here today Binding reform these new roads, my Street mining the same as any other public lands use rather than an exalting it to a special category itself and mining reform must protect our special places Make it clear that federal land managers can reject if they need to a mining proposal That's, going to cause unacceptable dangerous and unacceptable consequential to the environment the Hard rock mining I had Black leasing and reclamation act of 2019 does all of this it's a major first step in reform of our inadequate and exist and failed mining and now I'm pleased to introduce Kale Unity, director of the Yellowstone Gateway business Coach Yeah Thank you my name is Kerrie Kale and I'm, the community director of the Yellow stinky business About three and a half years ago while working at Chico Hot Springs Resort and Hotel We found out about 2490 planning combine for goals One of those minds would have been directly behind our resort one of the largest employers in our community Chico New immediately the disaster this would have been for our business and the hundreds of other businesses in and around paradise And our outdoor economy not to mention thousands of employees People flocked to Yellowstone and It's Because of our abundant wildlife kristi Unspoiled Scenic Precious quality of life he's visitors help you a diverse economy Stone National Park and our County ranks number one in Montana Industry alone in our County brings semi A golden night at the Headwaters and Yellowstone River The entire community recognized the destruction these minds with great our areas livelihood They needed to fight for their businesses and our That will and passion the Yellowstone Gateway business The coalition was created for To protect our economy and our way of life we are Republicans Democrats and independence We are pro business pro private property rights and we are not seeing We believe that communities to have input into whether and how This is why I'm so excited about this effort by chairman Mccall and senator dogs to perform a mining law that was written the same here Yellows Don't Take the first This favors international money contest over local businesses it's about time that this always fixed in order to even the playing field Thanks to our congressional delegation our community was lucky enough to earn permanent protection for Yellowstone Gateway for snacks But we wanna make sure that no other Committee passes stop everything and friends precious time Fighting for an active I am confidence that reputable Is out of date and local communities Play second fiddle to foreign mining interests let's move forward with mining laws that makes sense in 20 first century There are places that should The right to speak up and defend those Like in Montana you say Yellow stone is more valuable Now I'd like to introduce Kimberly Strong from the chill Cat Indian Village Thank you, my name is Kimberly Strong I'm from the chill Cat Indian Village of Popcorn I wanna introduce my community a little bit. The name pluck. One means eternal village the village that has always been The name chill cap means just caught in get me a holding place for salmon The chill Cat River is home to the five Pacific salmon and it is now being in danger by Canadian mining company called the Constantine mining resources They are also being back by another foreign country of Japan The corporate Staples will watch too mine up straight from the River I wanna thank Representative For introducing the bill of 18 seven Reform Bill for 1870 - Two My people believe that we are responsible for storing the lands that sustained us for thousands of years and we thank you for break being part of this to help us survive for another thousand The current 1870 - two law makes it impossible for anyone to be stewards of our land as it gives all the power to the mining companies by saying that mining Super seeds all other uses of the land The foreign companies profit is more important than the livelihoods of the people that live in the communities The River feeds us The chill cat River feeds us financially culturally spiritually and literally And the toxic discharge of a mind directly upstream will wipe wipe us off the map It is not a question of If the mind will release a pollution it is or if It's Tailing Stem will fail it is when will that happen We must stop the mind and we must change our our mining was to keep countless communities from having to fight foreign corporations for their own survival I don't want to go down in history as the last tribal leader of the chill Cat Indian Village of I don't want my name to go down in history as being the last leader of the 20 first century I wanna thank you all for being here and a deep appreciation from the people of the chill Cat Indian Village I'd like to introduce Percy Anderson Navajo Nation, community advocate and organizer S Good Morning Everybody my name is Percy Anderson I am from the community And I have been working with And our areas have been greatly affected by past Many of our waters are contaminated and so I'm going to speak about that this morning So I'm here today to represent Feel they have no voice through their elected representation I'm here to express our concerns for our environment and for the safety and cleanliness of our ground water water that sustains us Plant life animals and insects we support the efforts being made for the Hard Rock Mining Reform Act of 2019 reform is needed for outdated laws that go back to 1870 Attention is now critical for healthy communities For too long, we have suffered under the weight of extracting for minerals and also feels and the devastation that extraction has done to our health and well being for individuals families and communities and the environment too many have passed on without seeing their children and grandchildren Prosper This Reform Act will allow us as Tribal Nations to have more control over our lands our community Will be better able to regulate monitor and consult on the extraction of resources from Mother Earth The reform will assist our communities with necessary funds to further clean up abandoned mines such as past rain and mining that has littered our Navajo Nation from every direction of the Colorado Plateau The actual set new standards for federal agencies that issue permanents and regulate the Operations and reclamation activities of corporate and industrial energy companies Most importantly this app will be another seat to further promote further promote healthy communities by providing us the necessary ingredient for life sustaining nourishment through water and healthy soils We need this for the prosperity of future generations Thank you and God bless all creation S So, if anybody That spoke today were available