Loading bill breakdown…
S. 544119th CongressEnvironmental Protection
Mining Regulatory Clarity Act
Sponsored by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) · 4 active : 3 Republicans, 1 Democrat
Latest action: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 334.
Where it standsBefore the Senate6 senators score as swing votes
Hasn’t passed either chamber
- Senate: next
- House: not yet
- President: not yet
Summary
, via Congress.govMining Regulatory Clarity Act
This bill allows mining operators to use federal lands for activities ancillary to mining, such as waste disposal, regardless of whether those lands contain mineral deposits valuable enough to be mined (mineral validity). It also establishes the Abandoned Hardrock Mine Fund.
The bill addresses a 2022 decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit related to the Rosemont Copper Mine in Arizona (commonly known as
the Rosemont decision
, described further in
CRS Report R48166
Read full summaryHide full summary
). The court held that mining claims are only allowed where mineral validity has been established and that mill site claims are more appropriate means for establishing a mining waste disposal site under the Mining Act.
The bill allows a mining operator to (1) locate and include within its plan of operations as many mill site claims (e.g., areas for waste rock disposal) as are reasonably necessary for its operations, and (2) use or occupy public land in accordance with an approved plan of operations.
Additionally, the bill requires any revenue generated from fees for such mill site claims to be deposited into the Abandoned Hardrock Mine Fund. The Department of the Interior must use the fund for certain abandoned hardrock mine reclamation activities.
Committees and subjects
Committees
- Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources · SenateReported by · Markup by · Hearings by (full committee) · Referred to
Subjects
- Government trust funds
- Land use and conservation
- Mining
How the Senate breaks down
- 6Swing 70–100
- 62Middle 30–70
- 32Entrenched 0–30
Members fall into . All 100 senators have enough data to score.
Key players in the Senate
Ranked by swing score, 0–100 · swing-v2Bars show each input from 0 to 100: ideology gap, scorecard gap, . is the seat’s partisan lean, and shows how much of the input data a score has.
Similar past votes, Senate
Earlier behind swing-v3’s inputLoading similar votes
Cosponsors
4 activeShow all 4 cosponsors
- Jacky Rosen (D-NV)
- James E. Risch (R-ID)
- Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
- Mike Crapo (R-ID)
How the swing score works
Ideology gapHow far a member’s DW-NOMINATE voting score sits from their party’s median in the same chamber.
Scorecard gapHow far their Heritage Action and LCV ratings stray from their party’s average, using the groups’ votes on similar bills where available.
Cross-pressureHow strongly their district or state leans toward the other party, from our own computed partisan lean.
Similar votesHow often they voted against their own party on earlier roll calls about this bill or similar ones.
Committee bonusMembers of the committees handling the bill decide whether it moves, so they get a boost.
Cosponsor checkThe sponsor and active cosponsors have already committed, so they drop toward entrenched.
