{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.merkley.senate.gov/news/in-the-news/utah-congressman-seeks-to-re-open-area-in-sw-oregon-to-mining", "Utah Congressman Seeks To Re-Open Area In SW Oregon to Mining", "2017-12-05", "2017", "2017-12", "Democrat", "House", "OR", "Jeff Merkley", "M001176", "www.merkley.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Utah Congressman Seeks To Re-Open Area In SW Oregon to Mining \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nTuesday, December 5, 2017\r\n\r\n\t\n\r\n\r\n\r\n  \r\n    By:\u00a0\r\n    Liam Moriarty\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAttempts in recent years to open nickel mines near the headwaters of pristine creeks and rivers in southwest Oregon have faced solid opposition. In response, the Obama Administration last January withdrew 100,000 acres of federal land in the area from consideration for mining for at least 20\u00a0years.\u00a0\r\nA Republican congressman from Utah says that was illegal. He\u2019s asked the Trump administration to review that and all other Obama mineral withdrawals. And the foreign-owned mining company that most stands to gain is weighing in, as\u00a0well.\r\nWhen Ann Vileisis found out what Representative Rob Bishop had done, she was\u00a0appalled.\r\n\u201cOh, my gosh, I was so upset to hear the news,\u201d she said. \u201cSo many people locally have put in so much time and effort to get the mineral withdrawal into\u00a0place.\u201d\r\nVileisis heads the Kalmiopsis Audubon Society in Curry County. She helped lead opposition to plans by the Red Flat Nickel Corporation to establish a nickel strip mine near the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. Opponents fear the mine would pollute the nearby salmon\u00a0streams.\r\nRob Bishop chairs the House Natural Resources Committee. He recently sent a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, urging them to review the validity of all Obama-era mineral withdrawals, and the Southwestern Oregon Mineral Withdrawal, in\u00a0particular.\r\nUnder Obama, Bishop\u2019s letter says, \u201cmillions of acres of Federal land were inappropriately withdrawn from mineral access due to false premises of environmental protectionism and the intentional misuse of statutory\u00a0authority.\u201d\r\nThat annoys Democratic Rep. Peter DeFazio from Oregon\u2019s\u00a0 4th Congressional\u00a0District.\r\n\u201cHis letter is full of falsehoods,\u201d DeFazio\u00a0says.\r\nFor one thing, he\u00a0says:\r\n\u201cIf legislation has been introduced, and for whatever reason it\u2019s being delayed, then the administration is authorized to do what\u2019s called an \u2018administrative withdrawal in aid of legislation,\u2019 with the prospect that at some future date, legislation will be\u00a0passed.\u201d\r\nDeFazio himself has had such a bill pending for the past two sessions, a bill which Rob Bishop has kept bottled up in the Natural Resources\u00a0Committee.\r\nOregon Sen. Jeff Merkley is pretty unhappy with Bishop\u2019s letter,\u00a0too.\r\n\u201cEverything he was asserting is just wrong,\u201d he\u00a0says.\r\nContrary to Bishop\u2019s claims, the Oregon Democrat says, there was a robust process before the withdrawal decision was made, including a series of public\u00a0meetings.\r\n\u201cThere were 45,000 comments submitted, of which an astounding 99 percent were in support of the mineral withdrawal. There was community support that included the Gold Beach City Council, and the Curry County Board of Commissioners and the Cave Junction City\u00a0Council.\u201d\r\nMerkley, DeFazio and Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden wrote a three-page letter to Zinke and Perdue, urging them to disregard what they called Bishop\u2019s \u201cflawed\u201d request for a\u00a0review.\r\nRep. Bishop declined to be interviewed, but an aide said via email that if Merkley, DeFazio and Wyden are confident the withdrawal was proper, they shouldn\u2019t fear a\u00a0review.\r\nSo, why is a congressman from Utah so concerned about a mining withdrawal in Oregon? DeFazio notes\u00a0 Bishop has long supported mining and other industrial uses of public land. And according to the Center for Responsive Politics, mining interests have been among Bishop\u2019s top ten contributors of campaign\u00a0cash.\r\nBut DeFazio sees something else at work, as well, something he says is a common strategy of mining firms\u00a0.\r\n\u201cCompanies file very, very destructive claims, and then blackmail the government into buying them out. And I think that\u2019s what\u2019s going on here,\u201d DeFazio\u00a0says.\r\nJefferson Public Radio tried to contact the Red Flat Nickel Corporation, but they\u2019ve proven elusive. Several entities which have represented the company in the recent past said they currently have no connection to the firm. On State of Oregon registration documents, Red Flat Nickel lists the address of the Portland law firm Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, but an attorney there declined to confirm they represent the mining company. Registration documents filed with the State of Nevada show only one corporate officer, and list a post office box on Guernsey Island, an offshore British tax haven located in the English\u00a0Channel.\r\nRed Flat Nickel is owned by St. Peter Port Capital, an investment company based on Guernsey. Financial records show St. Peter Port has had a negative cash flow since 2013 and its most recent corporate report describes its major assets as \u201cilliquid.\u201d The report says shareholders voted in June to continue the company for at least one more year to try to realize some value from its\u00a0holdings.\r\nThat corporate report also notes that Red Flat Nickel renewed its mining claims in southwest Oregon this summer, despite the mineral withdrawal. And, it says of Rob Bishop\u2019s efforts, \u201cWe are encouraged that there is pressure from Congress on the federal government to review all mineral withdrawals executed during the Obama administration. It is our understanding that the present administration is increasingly keen to produce its own nickel and other strategic metals domestically\u00a0\u2026\u201d\r\nAccording to public records, Red Flat Nickel has spent $145,000 since 2015 lobbying the Senate, the U.S. Forest Service and the departments of Interior and\u00a0Agriculture.\r\nAnn Vileisis, with Kalmiopsis Audubon, says with all the important values at stake, she hopes the company\u2019s influence campaign doesn\u2019t\u00a0work.\r\n\u201cThe rivers and the fish, they\u2019re tied to our identity,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s\u2019 what\u2019s special about our place. So to have this foreign mining company come in \u2026 It\u2019s just not right. It doesn\u2019t make\u00a0sense.\u201d\r\nJefferson Public Radio asked the offices of the secretaries of Interior and Agriculture if they intend to follow through on Bishop\u2019s call for a review; we got no\u00a0response.\r\n\r\n \r\n           \r\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.merkley.senate.gov/news/in-the-news/utah-congressman-seeks-to-re-open-area-in-sw-oregon-to-mining"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.833875197917223, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}