Hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee - S. 883 The American Mineral Security Act of 2015

Hearing

Good morning, everyone. We'll call to order the energy committee hearing.
We are here this morning to hear testimony on S. 883, the American Mineral Security Act of
2015. It's nice to be able to welcome everyone to the committee here this morning.

This is an important topic I think for us. The mineral security of our nation directly affects
everything from our economic competitiveness to our national security. This is the third
consecutive Congress now that I have introduced legislation on this subject. I think this is the
best version yet, but I also believe that passage of this legislation is probably more important
now than ever.

I've said this before, and I will say it again. I think that we have a real problem on our hands, as
a result of our nation's borderline-insidious reliance on mineral imports and it's not just the rare
earth elements. 60 Minutes had a feature on this some weeks ago but the reality is the United
States now depends on many other nations for a vast array of minerals, metals, and materials.
And we've the numbers to back it up. In 1978, the USGS reported that the United States was
importing at least 50 percent of our supply of 25 minerals, and 100 percent of seven of them.

According to the latest figures, that dependence is now far deeper. In 2014, we imported at least
50 percent of 43 different minerals, including 100 percent of 19 of them.

Electric vehicles, solar cells, advanced defense systems -- you can almost name the technology,
almost anything that you can find in modern society, and then you can go look up who we import
at least some of the raw materials from.

Our foreign dependence is difficult enough. But the concentration of that supply presents
additional challenges. Our minerals often come from a handful of countries that are less than
stable -- or who might be willing to cut off our supply, to serve their own purposes or meet their
own needs.

Rare earth elements are again probably the best example of this. It's true that our production has
picked up thanks to Moly Corp out in California but China still produces 86 percent of the
world's supply in 2014 and close to 60 percent of our supply was imported.

When I look at our foreign mineral dependence, and where those minerals are coming from, I see
reason after reason to be seriously concerned. It is not hard to foresee a day of reckoning, when
this will become real for all of us -- when we simply cannot acquire a mineral, or when the
market for a mineral changes so dramatically that entire industries are affected.

I'm glad the Office of Science and Technology Policy is taking up our idea for critical mineral
designations. It's good to see more attention being paid at high levels of government. But
executive agencies are not as coordinated as they need to be, and they do not have all of the
statutory authorities needed to make lasting progress on this issue.

And so once again I have offered a broad bill to rebuild our mineral supply chain. I don't think
that there is any substitute for legislation.

When it comes to permitting delays for new mines, our nation is still among the worst in the
world. We are stumbling right out of the gate, right at the very start of the supply chain, and we
really never catch up. And it's our own fault here.

When we decide a mineral is critical, we should go survey our lands, to determine the extent of
our resource base -- so we know what we can produce, right here at home.

We should keep working on alternatives, efficiency, and recycling options for the minerals that
our nation does not have in significant abundance. I think that is a very important part of our
discussion here this morning. We think we know what we have again looking to what
alternatives might be reasonable and recycling options are important.

We should build out a forecasting capability, to provide a better understanding of mineral-related
trends -- and an early warning when problems arise.

We also need to ensure a qualified workforce. The United States we know is down to just a
handful of mining schools. A large share of their faculty will be retiring in the near future, and
we need smart young people who want to go into these fields.

This Congress offers a perfect opportunity to bring our mineral policies into the 21st century. My
bill offers us that chance. I want to thank Senator Heller and Senator Risch for cosponsoring it,
and Secretary Moniz and his team at the Department of Energy for providing technical assistance
to us as we drafted it. I also want to thank our panel of witnesses here today.

Thank you Commissioner Fogels for joining us all the way from Alaska here this morning. It's a
long haul for you.

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