Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the ongoing work within the Interior bill.

As the Representative for the Fifth District of Colorado and vice chair of the Natural Resources Committee, I have long supported our critical mineral independence, striving to roll back regulations and burdens on this industry.

However, my background on the House Armed Services Committee and my longstanding support of our national security causes me to caution support of section 466.

Railroad Valley in Nevada has been used and cared for by NASA since 1996 as the world's premier optical sensing calibration site. The Railroad Valley site is used daily to calibrate cameras onboard of satellites that photograph the world daily. Commercial companies have used this playa to provide critical support to satellites that monitor the ongoing war in Ukraine, the conflict in the Middle East, and many other critical needs.

It is for that reason that I am here advocating for the Railroad Valley playa as a national security asset. According to a study done by NASA, the capability this playa provides can only be found in four sites around the world. Current and future needs of our commercial space industry and intelligence community are strongly reliant on the benefits this site provides here in the continental U.S. This is not something we can turn to in other places because the other three sites lie in China, north Africa, and Israel.

Additionally, NASA's study concluded that the Railroad Valley site would be the best option in any case to provide the optimal sensing calibration. It is important to protect the critical mineral rights, but it must not come at the expense of our national security. We must do both.

I thank Mr. Amodei and Chairman Simpson for their tireless work on this issue and their commitment to our future work on compromise language and protection of our national security assets. I look forward to supporting the language that comes out of conference for the Interior appropriations, and I urge adoption of the bill.

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