Huffman Statement on Court Ruling to Stop Trump Admin’s Greenlight for Illegal Colosseum Mine

Huffman Statement on Court Ruling to Stop Trump Admin's Greenlight for Illegal Colosseum Mine

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) issued the following statement after a federal court ordered an immediate halt to new mining operations at the Colosseum Mine inside Mojave National Preserve.

"The District Court just said what the Trump administration won't: the mining industry is not above the law. Our public lands belong to all of us, and no mining company gets to bulldoze a place we promised to protect for future generations.

"I warned Secretary Burgum last year that this approval broke federal law. Interior ignored that, and now they're seeing the consequences. This mine threatens one of America's most incredible desert landscapes, imperils bighorn sheep habitat, and would cut families off from our public lands.

"This ruling pauses one illegal mine, but the Trump administration is still doling out deals in its mining free-for-all. Across the country, this administration is opening our public lands' gates to foreign mining companies so they can strip out our minerals and ship them overseas without paying a cent back to the taxpayers who own them.

"The court did its job. Now Congress must do ours. The Mining Law of 1872 was written in a time of prospectors and pickaxes, but today's corporate mining giants have evolved their game to exploit that law for their profit at the expense of our lands, waters, and special places. Democrats will keep fighting to reform this law once and for all, so mining in America is done safely, responsibly, and for the benefit of the American people, not Trump's billionaire buddies."

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