Lower Energy Costs Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. BARR. Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of my amendment, which is imperative to bringing home an essential supply chain and protecting our national security, all while protecting the environment.

Rare earth elements and critical minerals are essential components in the daily lives of Americans, as well as in national security technology from home computers, televisions, and vehicles, to major weapons systems, including lasers, guided missile systems, jet engines, and alloys for armored vehicles.

Currently, China controls the bulk of the global supply of these critical minerals and rare earths that support America's economy and defense industrial base.

The demand for these minerals will steadily increase as the global economy adopts new technologies, placing the United States and its allies at a growing disadvantage unless steps are taken to shift production and sourcing away from Chinese Communist Party-controlled entities.

The risk of supply disruptions is amplified by U.S. dependence on unreliable foreign sources and red tape that disincentivizes domestic sourcing.

It is estimated that 80 percent of rare earth minerals in the United States come from China. For too long, bureaucratic red tape and uncertainty in the permitting process forced critical mineral and rare earth operations overseas.

This amendment works to jump-start American critical mineral, rare- earth element, and carbon production to make our supply chains more resilient while creating opportunities for coal and coal byproducts to be used in new, clean, and innovative ways.

According to Bureau of Land Management estimates, there are nearly 5,200 coal-related abandoned mine sites that have yet to be fully reclaimed. Through this amendment, we are creating an avenue for rare earths to be extracted from coal waste at these abandoned mine sites.

This would not only help the United States with this critical supply chain need but also address our Nation's environmental and reclamation needs.

Specifically, this amendment would include projects related to extraction, recovery, or processing of critical minerals, rare earth elements, or carbon from coal, coal waste, coal processing waste, or pre- or post-combustion coal byproducts, or acid mine drainage from coal mines as covered projects eligible for FAST-41 permitting for the purposes of securing the economic and national security of the United States.

Mr. Chair, whether you are like me, a member of the Congressional Coal Caucus or a member of the Sustainable Energy Caucus or a national security hawk or a member of the Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, every Member of Congress should be for this win-win-win solution, a win to reclaim these abandoned mine sites and fix an environmental problem, a win for the coal industry and the workers in the coal industry who need alternatives to combustion of coal now that we are in the transition phase of our energy development in our country, and certainly a win for national security. This is a way for us to end overdependence on the Chinese Communist Party for critical, national security sensitive supply chain needs.

The United States must innovate and secure its supply chain of sensitive strategic materials in order to reduce reliance on Chinese Communist Party-controlled materials overseas.

Mr. Chair, I encourage my colleagues to vote ``aye'' on my amendment, which I expect to be fully bipartisan, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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