While few countries can rival the U.S. when it comes to an abundance of mineral resources, we remain subjected to a third-world permitting system that discourages investment and the downstream industries, related jobs, innovation and technology that depend on a secure and reliable mineral supply chain.
Our dependence on mineral imports has doubled over the past 20 years. Today, less than half of the mineral needs of U.S. manufacturing are met from domestically mined minerals. Long permitting delays drive minerals exploration investments to other counties.
In order to improve the permitting process, we need legislation that provides for a more efficient permitting process to support the mining industry, and the U.S. economy as a whole. Fortunately, there is legislation in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. Rep. Pete Stauber’s (R-MN) Accessing America’s Critical Minerals Act (H.R. 2604) and Rep. Waltz’s (R-FL) American Critical Mineral Independence Act (H.R. 2637) as well as Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) bipartisan “S. 1352” aim to modernize the current U.S. mining permitting process, ensure access to our vast domestic mineral resources and break free from our foreign mineral dependence.