[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 14573]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              NATIVE AMERICAN SACRED LANDS PROTECTION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. NICK J. RAHALL II

                            of west virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 11, 2003

  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, many would argue that the United States 
Capitol is sacred. It is a testament to freedom, a symbol of 
government, a monument of national historical and cultural 
significance. Throughout its halls there are statues of our founders, 
our heroes, our history. For the past 200 years, legislators have sweat 
blood and tears debating the laws of our great country.
  It is sacred to me, to the American people and to the underlying 
principles of this country. No patriotic American or friend of this 
great country would even think to spoil or mar the sanctity of this 
building.
  But there are many places across this country no less sacred than the 
Capitol building, that are being desecrated as we speak. It is 
inconceivable to have open-pit mining in Arlington Cemetery or to 
imagine an oil rig plopped in the middle of the Sistine Chapel. But in 
fact that is the very problem facing Native American sacred lands 
today.
  For example, the proposed site for a 1,600-acre, open-pit gold mine 
in Indian Pass, California, is a place where ``dream trails'' were 
woven. The Bush administration revoked a Clinton-era ruling that said 
mining operations would cause undue impairment to these ancestral 
lands, an extremely sacred place to the Quechan Indian tribe. Now the 
tribe is left fighting for its religious and cultural history. Although 
the state of California has taken action to help protect this site, the 
Federal government remains poised to permit the gold mine.
  Long before my ancestors arrived on these shores, American Indians 
were the first stewards of this land. They respected the earth, water 
and air. They understood you take only what you need and leave the 
rest. They demonstrated you do not desecrate that which is sacred.
  Most Americans understand a reverence for the great Sistine Chapel, 
or even the United States Capitol. Too often non-Indians have 
difficulty giving the same reverence we give to our sacred places to a 
mountain, valley, stream or rock formation.
  We cannot fight to preserve Native American sacred lands on a case by 
case basis. We need a comprehensive process to protect bona fide Native 
American sacred sites wherever they may lie on the public domain.
  That is why today I am introducing the Native American Sacred Lands 
Protection Act.
  First, the bill would enact into law a 1996 Executive Order designed 
to protect sacred lands. Specifically, it ensures access and ceremonial 
use of sacred lands and mandates all federal land management agencies 
take the necessary steps to prevent significant damage to sacred lands.
  Second, my bill gives Indian tribes the ability to petition the 
government to place federal lands off-limits to energy leasing or other 
incompatible developments when they believe those proposed actions 
would cause significant damage to their sacred lands.
  This is an extremely important provision. The tribes would no longer 
have to depend on the good graces of federal bureaucrats to protect 
these lands. Rather, the tribes themselves could initiate those 
protections.
  Third, the bill respects the confidentiality requirements of some 
Native American religions. And finally, the bill would permit sacred 
lands be transferred from the Federal government to the affected Indian 
or co-management plans to be implemented.
  If you look to our national parks, forests and monuments you see the 
commitment to preserve many of our country's natural treasures. The 
Federal government has put its full weight behind protecting these 
lands, and we can do the same for Indian country.
  At a time when the Bush administration is promoting increased energy 
development, we must enact comprehensive legislation that prohibits the 
further loss of Native American sacred lands. We must not stand idly by 
as these unique places are wiped off the face of the earth.

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