Stop Congress from allowing dirty mining on public lands!

What's At Stake

Most mineral mining on public lands in the U.S. continues to be governed by outdated and ineffective laws, which fail to provide even basic protections for our shared public lands and the communities that call them home. More than a century of reckless mining has poisoned our air, waters, and lands—and has disproportionately impacted Indigenous communities. We should address and modernize our mining laws and regulations, but instead, Congress is considering taking our mining laws backward with the following legislation: 

–The Mining Regulatory Clarity Act would further weaken mining laws, allowing mining companies to overtake and pollute our public lands and block land use for recreation, conservation, and clean energy. 

–The Critical Mineral Consistency Act would allow the federal government greater flexibility to classify minerals, like gold or copper, as ‘critical,’ opening federal tax credits and expedited permitting to new mineral operations for which they were previously ineligible. The bill would undercut our climate, environmental justice, and secure supply chain goals by prioritizing open-pit destructive mining practices over better sourcing options. 

–A bill to expand the Bull Mountains coal mine in Montana would ramp up production at one of the nation’s largest coal mines. This directly violates our environmental laws and an active court order ordering a thorough environmental review. The mine’s owners have a long record of violating environmental standards and worker safety around the world, and this bill would essentially reward their repeated violations of the law. 

We can and must avoid perpetuating the harms of the mining industry by updating our mining standards and preventing bad actors from destroying our drinking water, lands, and sacred sites. The Trump administration and its congressional allies want to reward these people, but we won’t let them. 

We need you to urge your representatives to reject bad-faith bills that make it easier for mining companies to recklessly pollute and destroy our public lands. Send a letter to Congress today!