America’s Mineral Crisis Can’t Wait: Congress Must Act Now

America’s Mineral Crisis Can’t Wait: Congress Must Act Now

Congress faces a looming deadline. Before August recess and the mid-term election that will follow, lawmakers must act on permitting reform legislation to unlock America’s mineral potential and address decades of regulatory dysfunction. The window to pass meaningful reform this year is closing and if Congress fails to act now, our nation’s mineral security could be set back for years.

Permitting Reform Bottlenecks

America faces a fundamental challenge: outdated permitting processes that create years of delay and cancellations of mining projects before they ever begin. It takes an average of 29 years to bring a mine online in the United States, the longest timeline of nearly any other nation,  because our permitting processes are fragmented, redundant and weaponized by litigation tactics that have nothing to do with justifiable environmental or safety concerns.

“It should not take a decade or longer to approve mining projects that are essential to economic security and national defense. Nor should it be so challenging to stand up domestic processing capacity, so minerals mined in North America are not sent overseas before returning to American manufacturers.”

– Rich Nolan, President and CEO of National Mining Association

Mining delays aren’t abstract policy problems – they translate into real consequences. Projects are abandoned. Capital flows overseas. Domestic mineral production remains stalled. Meanwhile, America’s import dependence grows, and adversaries like China tighten their grip on critical global supply chains threatening national security.

Americans Understand the Solution: Permitting Reform

Congress has a number of bipartisan bills that could transform the American mining landscape by modernizing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), streamlining the Clean Water Act Section 401 certification process, enhancing permit certainty, strengthening judicial review and eliminating the redundancies that have transformed environmental review into a mechanism for indefinite delay:

1. The SPEED Act
2. The American Energy and Mineral Infrastructure Act
3. The Mining Regulatory Clarity Act

Together, bills like these would bring America’s permitting framework into the 21st century, enabling us to build the mineral infrastructure our nation requires while also maintaining rigorous environmental and safety standards.

The August Recess Deadline

The political window for comprehensive permitting reform is closing. Lawmakers must act now – in July – to advance these bills before summer break.

America has the resources. We have the technology. We have bipartisan support for reform. What we need now is for Congress to meet the moment.