U.S. legislators are seeking to incentivize the expansion of domestic mining operations such as Lithium Americas' Lithium Nevada project, pictured above. |
Republicans will work to shorten permitting timelines for new mines and limit metal imports from China and Russia, should the party gain power in the U.S. government following November's midterm elections.
Republicans moved this Congress to signal their interest in revising the National Environmental Policy Act to make permitting mines faster and easier. Those bills may find willing Democratic partners, such as Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., whose permitting reform bill roiled Congress in September, and especially if they facilitate mining of battery metals, though the more progressive party members may object. The mining industry sees comprehensive changes to permitting rules as key to meeting the demands of the energy transition.
Democrats and Republicans have proposed bills that would establish a strategic rare earth metals reserve and direct the U.S. energy secretary to award grants for mining education, while Republicans also seek to cut China and Russia out of the U.S. metals supply chain.
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"If Republicans take back the House, we will absolutely prioritize energy and mineral legislation right out of the gate," said Rebekah Hoshiko, the communications director for House Natural Resources Committee Republicans.
This likely comes as welcome news to members of the industry who expressed frustration that Sen. Manchin's proposal did not go far enough to simplify U.S. mine permitting laws.
"The U.S. is at a critical crossroads for hard-rock mining policy," said Conor Bernstein, vice president of communications at the National Mining Association. "We hope Congress builds off that strong consensus and can turn it into action that creates the opportunity to build the secure and responsible mineral supply chains with the urgency required to reverse the nation's alarming mineral import overreliance."
Bridging partisan divides with domestic supply chain
The U.S. has been working on diversifying its supply chain, and permitting has been a top priority.
"Congress must address how long it takes to bring American minerals to market," said Mckinsey Lyon, vice president of external affairs at Perpetua Resources Corp. "There is bipartisan recognition that we will not meet our clean energy or national security needs without American minerals." The U.S.-based mining company has dedicated resources to lobbying both chambers of Congress on critical minerals and mining issues, according to Senate lobbying disclosures.
Legislation intended to streamline hard-rock mine permitting and environmental reviews introduced in the House in the wake of Sen. Manchin's bill has been solidly Republican, however, calling into question what compromises will need to be negotiated to pass new permitting rules if House party power flips.
"[Permitting reform] might be one of the more immediate places where we'll see bipartisan consensus," Hoshiko said. "Obviously, Senator Manchin has been getting a lot of headlines on the topic, but our [members] in the House have been pushing this issue for years."
The Securing America's Mineral Supply Chains Act of 2022, introduced by Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, would establish new timelines for environmental reviews, similar to Manchin's proposal.
Pursuing permitting reform will be front of mind for Republicans after the midterms, said Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., chair of the Congressional Western Caucus, which includes members representing Western and Midwestern mining states.
"Regardless of the specific legislation that comes to the floor, we are united in fixing the systemic issues within the government that prevent or unnecessarily delay domestic mineral production without sacrificing environmental or labor standards," Rep. Newhouse said in an email.
While Democratic leadership backed permitting reform in 2022, progressives take issue with what they see as lax controls on the mining industry under the changes.
"If we want to build a more sustainable future, we must reform the mining law so that it meets the challenge," House Natural Resources Committee Chair Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., said in an email. "Critical minerals will be a necessary part of the clean energy transition, but that doesn't mean we should just turn a blind eye while the mining industry gets free reign to wreak havoc on our public lands however and wherever they want."
While reducing dependence on non-allied nations for mineral imports has been a bipartisan priority, Republicans have sought to prevent metal imports from Russia and China in order to support domestic production.
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and a member of Senate leadership, introduced a bill in March that would ban uranium imports from Russia. The bill notably does not prohibit uranium from Kazakhstan, a Russian ally whose state-controlled NAC Kazatomprom JSC is the largest producer of uranium in the world, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.
Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, introduced the MINES Act in September, which would require the U.S. interior secretary to produce a report on Russian and Chinese investments in the mining industry.
"Not mining and processing domestically means creating dangerous dependencies on a foreign adversary," Rep. August Pfluger, R-Texas, the top Republican on the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence and Counterterrorism, said in an email. "Without permitting reform and more mining in America, that push [to build up the mining industry] will be impossible without dramatically increasing our dependency on China, something I don't believe anyone is comfortable with given their flagrant human rights abuses."
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