Pete Stauber

Critical minerals are essential for producing applications in both the defense and energy sectors, ranging from batteries to missiles.

Specifically, the bill would direct the Secretary of the Interior to report to Congress the cost of imports of critical minerals and the overall economic impact. The Interior will be required to include cost information in every U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Commodity Summary.

The resolution would expedite mining permits by directing the Interior to submit a list to the committee of every mining project on federal land that has been pending permits or seeking approvals. The Interior must identify priority projects and take action to move them through the permitting process. The bill said the Interior Department and the Department of Agriculture should identify federal land that can be permitted quickly for mining projects.

In addition, the bill directs both departments to identify burdensome regulations and submit recommendations to Congress for changes. The bill said the Interior should prioritize accelerating geological mapping of the U.S. to identify deposits of hardrock minerals, with a progress report within one year of the bill’s enactment.

Stauber testified before the House Rules Committee on Rules on Tuesday, saying, “We need to mine more, and we need to mine now.”

The U.S. has sought to quickly expand the domestic critical mineral supply to reduce its dependence on China, which controls the market. China has used its dominance as leverage against the U.S. and others by imposing export restrictions, leading key industries, such as the auto sector, to seek other sources of minerals.

“Unfortunately, our country has moved in the opposite direction in recent decades, becoming dangerously reliant on mineral imports,” Stauber said. “This dependency plays right into the hands of our adversaries. Most notably, China controls approximately sixty percent of global critical mineral production, ninety percent of processing and seventy-five percent of manufacturing.”

“We’ve repeatedly seen the CCP impose mineral export restrictions and use its stranglehold over rare earth minerals as a bargaining chip in trade negotiations, increasing uncertainty across key sectors of our economy,” he added.

Democrats said that the legislation would harm the environment.

Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ), who spoke in opposition of the bill at the House Rules Committee on Tuesday, said the bill allows the mining industry to tell Interior and the Forest Service which regulations to eliminate.

“While there are some parts of this bill that direct the government to conduct studies on some of these findings, it’s clear the primary purpose is to gut regulations and hand over even more power to an industry that is already getting pretty much everything that they’ve asked for,” she said.

The Trump administration has sought to expand the domestic critical mineral, including by partnering with other allied nations to diversify the supply.

US SEEKS TRADING BLOC TO COUNTER CHINA GRIP ON CRITICAL MINERALS, VANCE SAYS