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Amodei and Heller Team Up on Critical Minerals Bill

January 17, 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:

Logan Ramsey (Amodei) 202-225-6155

Neal A. Patel (Heller) 202-224-6244

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Mark Amodei (NV-02) recently teamed with U.S. Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) to introduce key mining legislation, H.R. 520, to more efficiently develop domestic sources of minerals in Nevada and across the country. After introducing the legislation, both members released the following statements:

“Critical and strategic minerals are essential to the technologies that make our daily lives and economy work,” said Congressman Amodei. “Unfortunately, when it comes to mining strategic and critical minerals in America, duplicative regulations, bureaucratic inefficiency, and lack of coordination between federal agencies unnecessarily threaten our economy and jeopardize our national security. In Nevada, permitting delays stand in the way of good-paying jobs and revenue for local, often rural, communities. Our bill would simply bring transparency to the permitting process without changing any environmental regulations, protections, or opportunity for public input. This is a necessary piece of legislation that has already passed the House five times over the past three Congresses. I’m pleased to have Senator Heller join me as we work to streamline the permitting process to leverage our nation’s vast mineral resources, while paying respect to economic, national security, and environmental concerns.”

“Nevada possesses some of the richest hard rock mineral reserves in the world, fueling our nation’s economy even before statehood. Today, the industry is responsible for over 13,000 jobs and $11 billion in annual economic output in Nevada alone. Unfortunately, these natural resources are not being developed as efficiently as they should be, increasing our nation’s dependence on foreign sources of minerals. This legislation improves the burdensome permitting process, increasing American mineral security while creating blue collar mining and manufacturing jobs. I am pleased to team up with Congressman Amodei, who has championed this bill in the House for years, to advance these common-sense reforms in the 115th Congress,” said Senator Heller.