Cramer: House Passes H.R. 1937, National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act of 2015

Press Release

Congressman Kevin Cramer announced today the U.S. House of Representatives approved H.R. 1937, the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act of 2015. The bill requires the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to simplify processes involved in the extraction of minerals and mineral materials critical to national security and economic competitiveness. The bill defines "strategic and critical minerals" as minerals that are necessary: for national defense and national security requirements; for the nation's energy infrastructure, including pipelines, refining capacity, electrical power generation and transmission, and renewable energy production; to support domestic manufacturing, agriculture, housing, telecommunications, health care, and transportation infrastructure; or for the nation's economic security and balance of trade.

Legal challenges under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) have added uncertainty to the process for obtaining permits necessary for exploration and development. The permit approval process in the United States now averages seven to 10 years.

"From cell phones to airplanes, critical minerals are used to build products essential to our modern economy and national defense," said Cramer. "We cannot let our competitors, like China and Russia, dominate the world's production of these vital materials and potentially threaten the United States and our allies in the future. Frivolous lawsuits and government overregulation threaten our nation's economic competitiveness and national security. This legislation streamlines the mining approval process while protecting the environment."

A 2008 National Research Council (NRC) report on minerals critical to the U.S. economy stated "most critical minerals are both essential in use (difficult to substitute for) and prone to supply restrictions." The NRC report is based on several availability criteria (e.g., geological, technical, environmental and social, political, and economic) used to rank minerals for criticality. The NRC produced a criticality matrix which has been used as a framework for analysis to determine whether selected minerals are critical to the U.S. economy. Out of 11 minerals assessed, indium, manganese, niobium, PGMs, and REEs were ranked critical, and assessed at a high supply risk with the possibility of severe impacts if supplies were restricted.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) lists 19 minerals as 100 percent import dependent with nine of the minerals as having either a small amount of domestic production or some reserves. View the full USGS listing of nonfuel minerals here.

The following graph illustrates the United States dependency on China for its supply of minerals critical for our economy and national defense. View the full report from the Congressional Research Service here.

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