# H.R. 1366 (119th): Mining Regulatory Clarity Act

Mining 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 ). 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.

## How this bill is scored

Tier: no Tier 1 record. A bill with no record cannot newly become Tier 1.
Lane: abandoned_mine_reclamation. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Lane: environmental_regulation. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Lane: mining. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Lane: mining_regulation. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Lane: public_lands. Category: not stored. Lane tag: not stored.
Tier 1 sign-off: no record. A bill with no record cannot newly become Tier 1.
Stored polarity: mixed. Only tags the rules mark scoreable on a mixed bill are scored. A yea can draw a penalty or a credit according to the tag. A nay on a tag scored as good can draw a penalty.
Roll 357: On Motion to Recommit. Vote type: recommit.
Roll 358: On Passage. Vote type: final_passage.
Polarity rationale: Reviewed enrichment (llm_import) polarity: The bill combines prudential mining-access and land-use provisions with a reclamation fund for abandoned hardrock mines, a real good. It does not directly advance a named moral harm or directly restrain one. Concerns about public-land use and waste disposal are ordinary regulatory and environmental disputes that do not warrant a hard moral verdict on the available text.
Theological note: This bill raises stewardship questions: how public land is used for resource extraction and waste disposal, whether mining activity is fairly regulated and bounded by approved plans, and whether harms left by abandoned mines are repaired. Scripture's mandate to till and keep the earth and to avoid waste and injustice toward neighbors and land is relevant, but the measure's core is a land-management and claims-procedure dispute rather than a direct moral act of harm or restraint.

## Recorded votes

Roll 357: On Motion to Recommit. Yea 205 · Nay 213 · Other 15.
Roll 358: On Passage. Yea 219 · Nay 198 · Other 16.

HTML: https://justmeasure.org/bill/hr-1366-119/