Amodei Reintroduces Critical Minerals Bill to Streamline Permitting Process, Create Jobs, Improve Economic & National Security

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:Logan Tucker, 202-225-6155

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Mark Amodei (NV-02) released the below statement following his reintroduction of the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act (H.R. 2531)Tuesday, legislation that will streamline the mining permitting process to end our present reliance on foreign sources of minerals that are critically important to our economy and national defense:

“Critical and strategic minerals are essential to the technologies, products, and infrastructure that make our daily lives work. Unfortunately, when it comes to mining critical and strategic minerals in America, duplicative regulations and bureaucratic inefficiencies have forced us to rely on foreign adversaries and competitors for critical minerals, a dependency that threatens the security of our nation and economy. Permitting delays stand in the way of high-paying jobs and revenue for local, often rural, communities. In fact, since the 1990’s, mineral exploration has stagnated and even declined in some cases because regulatory changes have caused the permit approvals process to take as long as ten years.

“The bill I introduced will decrease our dependency on foreign sources of minerals by streamlining the permitting process, allowing us to leverage our nation’s vast mineral resources while paying respect to economic, national security, and environmental concerns. This common-sense legislation has already passed the House the last four Congresses and will not change any environmental regulations, protections, or opportunity for public input. I’m pleased to have several of my House colleagues join me in introducing this bill and look forward to working together to modernize the outdated, job-crushing policies that are hamstringing our economy and jeopardizing our national security.”