Today, the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources held a legislative hearing on four bills that would promote domestic mineral production and mitigate the impacts of dangerous landslides. Subcommittee Chairman Pete Stauber (R-Minn.) issued the following statement in response:

"The mining sector in the United States faces a variety of challenges, from burdensome regulations to the weaponization of the judicial system. I was proud to oversee a hearing today on important bills that will reduce some of the obstacles that have prevented good domestic mining projects from moving forward, stop foreign nations from flooding our market with falsely labeled minerals, and empower states to better prepare for landslides. One of these bills will codify the Rosemont fix into law, restoring long-standing interpretations of our mining laws and providing certainty for the domestic critical mineral mining projects that are necessary for our 21st century economy. I thank Representatives Amodei, Lamborn, Delbene, and Curtis for bringing forward these commonsense bills today."

Background

H.R. 2925, the Mining Regulatory Clarity Act of 2023, introduced by U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.), would codify and clarify longstanding precedent regarding mining permitting on federal lands in response to the Ninth Circuit's decision on the Rosemont Copper Mine that upended 40 years of mining regulatory precedent and impacted mining projects across western states. 

H.R. 6862, introduced by U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), would codify "mineral production" as a covered sector under Title 41 of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST-41) and rescind the proposed rule, "Revising Scope of the Mining Sector of Projects That Are Eligible for Coverage Under Title 41 of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act."

H.R. 7004, introduced by U.S. Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah), would amend the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 everywhere that "gilsonite" is mentioned, to replace it with "asphaltite," a word referring to a group of similar minerals that includes gilsonite. Gilsonite is the trademarked name of a mineral that is found on federal lands in Utah in the Uinta Basin.

H.R. 7003, the National Landslide Preparedness Act Reauthorization Act of 2024, introduced by U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) reauthorizes the National Landslide Preparedness Act for Fiscal Years 2024- 2028.