Murkowski: Mineral Security Must Be a National Priority
Press Release
U.S. Sen Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, stressed the importance of strengthening our nation's mineral security at today's Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee's hearing on S. 883, the American Mineral Security Act of 2015. The legislation, authored by Murkowski, would revitalize the United States' minerals supply chain and help reduce our dependence on foreign suppliers.
"We have a real problem on our hands, as a result of our nation's borderline-insidious reliance on mineral imports. It's not just rare earth elements. The reality is, the United States now depends on many other nations for a vast array of minerals, metals, and materials," Murkowski said. "Electric vehicles, solar cells, advanced defense systems -- you can almost name the technology, almost anything you can find in modern society, and then you can go look up who we import at least some of the raw materials from.
According to the National Research Council, more than 25,000 pounds of new minerals are needed per person, per year in the U.S. to make the items we use for basic human needs, infrastructure, energy, transportation, communications, and defense. Yet the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) also reports that we are now more than 50 percent dependent on foreign nations for at least 43 separate mineral commodities, and a recent survey of manufacturing executives found that more than 90 percent worry about "supply disruptions outside of their control."
The American Mineral Security Act is cosponsored by Sens. Heller, R-N.V., and Risch, R-Idaho. It builds on legislation that Murkowski has previously introduced to modernize our nation's outdated mineral policies. S. 883 addresses issues up and down the critical minerals supply chain like critical mineral designations and permitting, recycling, and workforce development.
Witnesses at the hearing, representing the many stages of the critical minerals supply chain, agreed with Murkowski, chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, that more needs to be done to allow America to harness its domestic supply of critical minerals.
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