Mark Compton, Executive Director of the American Exploration & Mining Association, issued the following statement responding to today’s announcement from Perpetua Resources that the Stibnite Project will receive up to $24.8 million in funding from the Department of Defense, to support environmental and engineering studies for the project.

The American Exploration & Mining Association (AEMA), a national trade organization representing the hardrock mining industry, praised the introduction of the Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandon Hardrock Mines Act of 2022 (Good Samaritan) legislation today.

AEMA applauds the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) for today’s much-needed action to modernize and clarify its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations for the first time in over forty years. As one of the first environmental laws in this country, NEPA was landmark legislation, signaling the dawning of environmental awareness and the first step down the path of enacting what has become a comprehensive and effective federal and state statutory framework to protect the environment.

AEMA filed an amicus brief Monday, June 29, with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit supporting the U.S. Forest Service and Hudbay Minerals appeal of the U.S. District Court of Arizona’s errant Rosemont decision. In July 2019, the District Court revoked the U.S. Forest Service’s issuance of the Final Record of Decision for the Rosemont project in Arizona.

AEMA applauds the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) for today’s much-needed proposal to modernize and clarify its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations.