Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last week, the House Committee on Natural Resources hosted a field hearing in Goodyear, Arizona, to hear from state and local stakeholders about critical mineral supply chains and the implications of relying on America’s adversaries, including China, for these natural resources. Congressional Western Caucus Vice Chairs Debbie Lesko (AZ-08) and Andy Biggs (AZ-05) along with Western Caucus Members Reps. Juan Ciscomani (AZ-06), Eli Crane (AZ-02), and Paul Gosar (AZ-09) participated.

“I can’t overemphasize to you how important this hearing is and this issue is, we as Congressmembers hear a lot about the threat from China, they are the U.S.’s major threat and one of the things that we are giving to China right now, is we are handing over to them through the Biden Administration’s policies, we are becoming more reliant on them,” said Vice Chair Debbie Lesko (AZ-08). “The Biden Administration claims they are for domestic mining, yet on the other hand, they’re shutting down mines here in Arizona and also in Minnesota and elsewhere, you can’t have it both ways.”

“Congress needs to do more to ensure that the legislative branch takes back its oversight authority and its regulatory authority to rein in the out-of-control bureaucracy, the executive branch, and the judiciary itself with its out-of-control orders that are being manipulated by groups who don’t want to see mineral development and extraction,” said Vice Chair Andy Biggs (AZ-05). “Minerals are critical to virtually everything.”

"Minerals are integral to our modern way of life. Rapid growth in renewable energy technologies is expected to drive mineral demand up by several orders of magnitude, exacerbated by the irrational goals pledged by the Biden administration. Today, the United States has an alarming reliance on foreign nations to meet our demand for minerals. Disturbingly, China controls nearly two-thirds of the world's critical mineral supply and is the largest source of imports for 26 of the 50 minerals classified as critical by the U.S. government. Sadly, the Biden administration is hellbent on stopping mining in this country, including Arizona,” said Rep. Paul Gosar (AZ-09). “Despite the exponential demand for minerals and America's dangerous reliance on China for minerals, recent actions from the Biden administration have shut down domestic mining projects and severely limited America's capacity to meet the demands of increased renewable energy sources and the challenges posed by China's mineral dominance. The anti-mining actions by the Biden administration hurt America's economy, threaten our national security, and push mineral production abroad. Today's field hearing exposes the irrationality of the Biden administration and highlights the access to minerals we have here in America, particularly in the Southwest, if only our federal bureaucracy could get out of the way. I appreciate the witnesses for their important testimony and the Members of Congress who participated in today's hearing."

“We’re actively working to halt some of the burdensome regulations that the Biden Administration is attempting to put in place,” said Rep. Juan Ciscomani (AZ-06). “We want to make it easier for Americans to mine critical minerals here in the United States and that is where we’re coming from.”

“When I look at this issue and I try to boil it down into three key areas, the ones that I’m most focused on are economic impact, national security threat, and then obviously the environmental harm,” said Rep. Eli Crane (AZ-02). “The economic impact obviously we’ve sent a lot of our jobs overseas, many of these mining towns have become ghost towns, then you obviously have the national security piece when you outsource these critical minerals that we use on our everyday technology and consumer products to a foreign country that happens to be an enemy, and then obviously the environmental harm as well, all of us want to see us harvest our natural resources in a clean and safe way that protects our environment.”

These Congressional Western Caucus Members heard from the following witnesses during the field hearing:

• Misael Cabrera, Director, School of Mining and Mineral Resources at the University of Arizona

• James Carlson, Chairman, Boundary Line Foundation

• Steve Crim, Executive Director, Common Sense America

• Jeremy Harrell, Chief Strategy Office, ClearPath

• Craig Wiita, President and CEO, Del Sol Refining, Inc.

“The unavoidable truth is that we cannot develop cleaner, greener technologies without more minerals and we cannot secure enough minerals without a significant focus on mining,” said Mr. Misael Cabrera, Director, School of Mining and Mineral Resources at the University of Arizona. “Supplying the planet with the necessary minerals requires a balanced approach, walking the line between responsible environmental protections and the ability to move into extractive operations in a much more streamlined fashion.”

“The all-of-government approach recommended by the IWG to address mineral supply chain issues is derived from Executive Order 14017 and is a pattern throughout the Biden Administration that proposes to expand the role of federal agencies in public land management,” said Mr. James Carlson, Chairman, Boundary Line Foundation. “If implemented as proposed, the IWG recommendations will vastly expand the role of Departments of Defense, Commerce, Health and Human Services in critical minerals permitting, mining, reclamation, and data hub monitoring.”

“Today, I am here to urge Congress to take action to maximize the domestic production and development of critical minerals to reduce our dependence on China,” said Mr. Steve Crim, Executive Director, Common Sense America. “The realization that a foreign adversary can exert such control over the items we use daily is alarming, yet the situation can escalate even further.”

“Failure to scale up domestic production of minerals undercuts our ability to compete globally, regulatory approvals for mines here at home have fallen to the lowest level in decades coinciding with substantial demand growth for products that require them for raw materials,” said Mr. Jeremy Harrell, Chief Strategy Office, ClearPath. “To fix this urgent problem, policymakers should work toward three key objectives, one, restoring predictability to the permitting process, two, streamlining judicial review, and three, fostering trade and collaboration with allies.”

“Our goal needs to be ending the United States’ dependency on strategic and critical minerals completely,” said Mr. Craig Wiita, President and CEO, Del Sol Refining, Inc. “The reason for this dependency is not due to geologic impediments but due to politics.”

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