Application of Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands to Hardrock Minerals

Floor Speech

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Mr. FALLON. Mr. Speaker, if critical minerals like lithium are essential to our military and to our national security, if that is the case, then why are we still relying on our number one global adversary to supply them?

China is mining about 18 percent of all the lithium in the world. With the United States, that percentage is less than 1. As far as refining, China is about 67 percent, some estimates up to 80 percent, where the United States is at 2 percent.

For years now, the United States has been overly reliant on the communists in Beijing. It is in America's best national security interest to maintain deterrence against the CCP, not only in the Indo- Pacific, but especially here at home in our supply chains and critical industries. This is why I first introduced H.R. 3872, the MERICA Act, which would allow for the expanded extraction of critical minerals on Federal lands.

In fact, we already have some of these critical minerals in abundance. A portion of the district I am privileged to represent falls within what is known as the Smackover Formation, a geological formation that encompasses areas from east Texas all the way to the Florida panhandle.

Thanks to a recent U.S. Geological Survey-led study, we know there are an estimated 5 to 19 million tons of lithium reserves in the Smackover Formation, and it is ready for extraction.

Lithium is essential for military and defense applications. It includes batteries and power systems used in unmanned aerial systems, such as the ones planning to be assembled under the Army's SkyFoundry Initiative, which is also absolutely critical for our Nation's future defense.

Under current law, these valuable lithium deposits are locked up on Federal lands, preventing their usage. The MERICA Act would amend the Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands by adding hardrock minerals as part of the listed deposits subject to leasing so that all federally acquired lands can be considered for hardrock mineral leasing.

The MERICA Act would also give the Secretary of the Interior the authority to follow through on President Trump's executive order by ramping up mineral extraction and production on our own Federal lands.

We can't continue to play into the hands of Beijing by granting them de facto control of the global lithium supply chain--it makes absolutely no sense--whether through domestic mines or ones they have gained through other means, such as the Belt and Road Initiative.

The demand for lithium will only continue to increase as the days go by. We must bolster our national capabilities and work to address the ever-growing burden on our Nation's power grid. By passing the MERICA Act, we would take the commonsense step to utilize Federal lands to their full and utmost potential.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues very much for their consideration. For the sake of America's security, I urge all of my colleagues in this august Chamber to support H.R. 3872.

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