WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Mining Association (NMA) today issued the following statement from Rich Nolan, NMA president and CEO, on the news that the bipartisan permitting package championed by Sens. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) and John Barrasso (R.- Wyo.) passed out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
Nolan said, “It’s heartening to see in today’s vote that bipartisanship is alive and well in Washington and that senators with such diverse priorities can come together and recognize that permitting reform must happen if we are to compete globally, feed our supply chains with responsibly sourced materials, and reliably meet the material and energy demands of modern life. China has a two-decade head start dominating supply chains for mined materials. It’s time to remove the self-imposed obstacles to U.S. mining’s potential and support this important bill.”
A report released this month by S&P Global found that it takes an average of 29 years to bring a mine online in the United States – longer than any other country assessed except Zambia, which takes 34 years. That poor performance is despite the fact that the U.S. resource endowment is vast with the endowment of some key metals, such as copper, comparable to those of Canada and Australia combined. Uncertainty and litigation risk are factors that contribute to the U.S. underperforming – both issues that are addressed, in part, in the bipartisan permitting package.
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