Today in Washington, D.C., the full Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) held a business meeting in which they advanced several pieces of legislation. Among those the committee approved is S. 2781, the Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act, which cleared the committee by voice vote. The bill now moves to the full Senate for consideration.

We simply are not moving mining projects forward in a timeframe that will allow our Nation to achieve its ambitious clean energy objectives or reduce our reliance on foreign minerals that empowers our adversaries to strategically weaponize minerals against us.

The American Exploration & Mining Association (AEMA) reacted to this morning’s unanimous decision from the Supreme Court of the United States in the case Sackett v. EPA. The Sackett ruling will significantly affect how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) apply and enforce the Clean Water Act, particularly regarding wetlands.

The American Exploration & Mining Association (AEMA) criticized today’s decision by the U.S. Department of Interior to withdraw 225,000 acres of the Superior National Forest in Minnesota from mineral entry and development.

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.