Preserve the Traditional Cultural Place Chí’chil Biłdagoteel Historic District Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7957 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7957

  To preserve the Traditional Cultural Place of Chi'chil Bimdagoteel
 Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places,
                        and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 17, 2026

Mrs. Grijalva (for herself, Ms. Stansbury, Ms. Leger Fernandez, and Mr.
   Huffman) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
                     Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

  To preserve the Traditional Cultural Place of Chi'chil Bimdagoteel
 Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places,
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Preserve the Traditional Cultural
Place Chi'chil Bimdagoteel Historic District Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Chi'chil Bimdagoteel, meaning ``a broad flat of Emory
        oak trees'' in Western Apache, and known as Oak Flat in
        English, is part of the ancestral homelands of Native Americans
        forcibly removed at gunpoint by the United States Army during
        the 1880s and held as prisoners of war in concentration camps
        until the early 1900s.
            (2) Despite being forcibly removed, Western Apaches and
        other Native Americans have maintained their deep connections
        to Chi'chil Bimdagoteel and continue to conduct religious
        ceremonies, gather medicines, water and other items for
        ceremonies, gather acorns and other foods, pray, and honor
        ancestors buried there as they have since time immemorial.
            (3) The National Historic Preservation Act was enacted in
        1966 to help preserve the historical and cultural resources of
        the United States and authorized the National Park Service to
        establish and maintain the National Register of Historic Places
        ``to identify the Nation's cultural resources and to indicate
        what properties should be considered for protection from
        destruction or impairment (36 CFR 60.1)''.
            (4) The National Park Service has established specific
        criteria for the evaluation of nominations to the National
        Register of Historic Places, including for traditional cultural
        places.
            (5) In 2012, the Tonto National Forest initiated the formal
        process of nominating Chi'chil Bimdagoteel to the National
        Register of Historic Places given its status as a known
        traditional cultural place.
            (6) From 2012 to 2014, as part of the nominating process,
        Tonto National Forest staff engaged in government-to-government
        consultations with Arizona Indian Tribes, made numerous site
        visits, compiled oral history and archival research, and worked
        with the Arizona State Historic Preservation Officer and the
        Pinal County Supervisor and incorporated their suggestions,
        comments and feedback, and this process resulted in the Forest
        Service formally nominating Chi'chil Bimdagoteel Historic
        District to the National Register of Historic Places.
            (7) The Chi'chil Bimdagoteel Historic District encompasses
        thousands of acres located in the Tonto National Forest and
        includes Apache Leap, Ga'an or Devils Canyon, Queen Creek
        Canyon, and the previous Oak Flat Withdrawal Area issued under
        President Eisenhower's Administration.
            (8) In 2014, despite bipartisan opposition, congressional
        allies of Resolution Copper inserted the Southeast Arizona Land
        Exchange Act as a closed-door, last-minute rider in the Carl
        Levin and Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon National Defense
        Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 to give away
        approximately 2,422 acres of land within the Chi'chil
        Bimdagoteel Historic District to Resolution Copper.
            (9) In 2014 and 2015, under the Southeast Arizona Land
        Exchange (Section 3003 of Public Law 113-291; 16 U.S.C. 539p),
        the Forest Service supervised an ethnographic and ethnohistoric
        study in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act
        and found that--
                    (A) Chi'chil Bimdagoteel is a sacred place for
                Western Apaches and an important traditional cultural
                place for at least 9 Tribes;
                    (B) there are hundreds of traditional cultural
                resources, including ancestral archeological sites,
                petroglyph sites, Apache camps, and named landforms and
                resource collection areas within Chi'chil Bimdagoteel;
                    (C) there are 46 known springs that are culturally
                important to Western Apaches in Chi'chil Bimdagoteel
                and the surrounding area; and
                    (D) there are dozens of plants, minerals, and
                animals that possess traditional cultural significance
                to Western Apaches located in Chi'chil Bimdagoteel.
            (10) On March 4, 2016, the National Park Service listed
        Chi'chil Bimdagoteel Historic District on the National Register
        of Historic Places.
            (11) The Southeast Arizona Land Exchange Act does not
        require Resolution Copper to smelt, refine, or sell the copper
        it extracts from beneath the Chi'chil Bimdagoteel Historic
        District in the United States, nor is there any requirement
        that this copper, derived from public land, benefits United
        States consumers.
            (12) Resolution Copper is a joint venture of the world's
        two largest foreign mining entities, Rio Tinto (55 percent
        stake) and BHP (45 percent stake), and these foreign
        corporations formed Resolution Copper to acquire public land
        within the Chi'chil Bimdagoteel Historic District to extract
        United States copper located beneath it primarily for export to
        the People's Republic of China.
            (13) Rio Tinto's largest shareholder is Chinalco, a company
        wholly owned by the People's Republic of China, which owns
        14.56 percent of Rio Tinto, 4 times more than the next largest
        shareholder, and Rio Tinto generates over 57 percent of its
        revenue through the export of minerals to the People's Republic
        of China, while BHP generates over 62 percent of its revenue
        through the export of minerals to the People's Republic of
        China, making the People's Republic of China the largest market
        for Rio Tinto and BHP.
            (14) Rio Tinto has a long record of human rights violations
        and environmental devastation, harming communities around the
        world, including in Australia, Papua New Guinea, Madagascar,
        Indonesia, Mongolia, and Namibia.
            (15) In 2020, Rio Tinto intentionally blew up an area
        sacred to the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura peoples in
        Western Australia, including the Juukan Gorge Rock Dwellings,
        which have evidence of human habitation dating back 46,000
        years, because it was the cheapest way to access ore, resulting
        in immeasurable cultural and spiritual loss and pain for
        indigenous communities.
            (16) The Resolution Copper Mine will result in the
        destruction of most, if not all, of the 2,422 acres of the
        Chi'chil Bimdagoteel Historic District transferred to
        Resolution Copper, including the collapse of the surface,
        resulting in a 1.8-mile-wide crater 1,000 feet deep, and
        fracturing and dewatering of local aquifers, which will drain
        ground water and springs.
            (17) The Resolution Copper Mine proposes the development of
        significant mining-related infrastructure throughout Tonto
        National Forest, including large parts of the Chi'chil
        Bimdagoteel Historic District that were not transferred to
        Resolution Copper under the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange,
        for the construction, operation, and maintenance of--
                    (A) a 19.6-mile pipeline corridor to slurry
                1,370,000,000 tons of toxic waste to a dump site that
                will require drilling a tunnel through a mountain
                called King's Crown Peak and constructing a pipeline
                bridge to span Ga'an Canyon in the Chi'chil Bimdagoteel
                Historic District;
                    (B) a 3.6-mile long high voltage power line
                corridor and a 16.9-mile power line through the
                Chi'chil Bimdagoteel Historic District to provide power
                to the toxic waste dump; and
                    (C) new roads in the Chi'chil Bimdagoteel Historic
                District for servicing of the pipelines and power lines
                and the conversion of various Tonto National Forest
                service roads to commercial use by Resolution Copper.
            (18) The Resolution Copper Mine will have enormous impacts
        on the region, including--
                    (A) consuming over 250,000,000,000 gallons of
                groundwater over the 40-year life of the mine, which is
                enough water to support 180,000 people annually for 40
                years, resulting in over 4 feet of land subsidence over
                large swaths of the East Salt River Valley due to
                decreases in groundwater levels, in some areas by
                nearly 200 feet; and
                    (B) the construction of a toxic waste dump to store
                1.37 billion tons of toxic waste in perpetuity that
                will measure nearly 500 feet high and span
                approximately 15,000 acres in an area called Skunk Camp
                in the Gila River watershed.
            (19) The Chi'chil Bimdagoteel Historic District should be
        preserved and protected instead of allowing foreign-owned
        Resolution Copper to destroy it, resulting in permanent and
        irreplaceable religious and cultural loss to Native Americans
        while jeopardizing the health and safety of downstream
        communities due to inevitable future breaching of the toxic
        waste dump.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Chi'chil biQdagoteel historic district.--The term
        ``Chi'chil Bimdagoteel Historic District'' means the
        traditional cultural place listed on the National Register of
        Historic Places located on--
                    (A) Tonto National Forest land in southeastern
                Arizona; and
                    (B) what was previously National Forest System land
                but transferred to Resolution Copper on or about March
                13, 2026, in the Tonto National Forest in southeastern
                Arizona.
            (2) Indian tribe.--The term ``Indian Tribe'' has the
        meaning given the term in section 4 of the Indian Self-
        Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304).
            (3) National forest system.--The term ``National Forest
        System'' has the meaning given the term in section 11(a) of the
        Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974
        (16 U.S.C. 1609(a)).
            (4) Resolution copper.--The term ``Resolution Copper''
        means Resolution Copper Mining, LLC, formed by foreign mining
        entities Rio Tinto and BHP, to acquire 2,422 acres of the
        Chi'chil Bimdagoteel Historic District to extract and monetize
        American copper located beneath it.
            (5) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
        of Agriculture.
            (6) Traditional cultural place.--The term ``traditional
        cultural place'' means a place eligible for inclusion on the
        National Register of Historic Places based upon its
        associations with cultural practices and beliefs of a living
        community that are rooted in that community's history and
        important in maintaining the community's continuing cultural
        identity.

SEC. 4. WITHDRAWAL.

    The National Forest System land located in the Chi'chil Bimdagoteel
Historic District is withdrawn from all forms of--
            (1) entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land
        laws;
            (2) location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and
            (3) disposition under all laws pertaining to mineral and
        geothermal leasing or mineral materials.

SEC. 5. PRESERVATION OF A HISTORIC PLACE; PROHIBITIONS ON USE;
              CONSULTATIONS AND COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS.

    (a) Preservation of a Historic Place.--The Secretary--
            (1) shall preserve the natural condition of the National
        Forest System land in the Chi'chil Bimdagoteel Historic
        District as a traditional cultural place;
            (2) shall not carry out any activity that would adversely
        affect the physical or cultural integrity of the National
        Forest System land in the Chi'chil Bimdagoteel Historic
        District; and
            (3) shall prohibit any activities that could adversely
        affect the landscape or other natural structures, water
        resources, wildlife, flora, or ecosystems of the National
        Forest System land in the Chi'chil Bimdagoteel Historic
        District.
    (b) Prohibition of Mining-Related Activities.--Notwithstanding any
other law, all activities related to mining and mining-related
activities, including rights-of way, toxic waste pipelines and related
infrastructure, electrical and other utility development, waste
disposal, and road development and road expansion, are prohibited on
the National Forest System land in the Chi'chil Bimdagoteel Historic
District.
    (c) Consultations and Cooperative Efforts.--The Secretary shall
engage in government-to-government consultations with Indian Tribes
with ties to the Chi'chil Bimdagoteel Historic District and shall enter
into cooperative agreements requested by these Indian Tribes to ensure
access to the National Forest System land for traditional activities
and preservation of sacred and cultural areas.
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