Minerals imperative to our military and economy

The Hill’s Congress Blog published a guest post today written by H. Sterling Burnett, senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, focusing on the dire need for the United States to establish policies that would prevent us from relying on foreign countries for minerals essential to our economic growth and national security.

Burnett discussed President’s Obama’s recent announcement that the United States plans to file a case with the World Trade Organization against China’s export restriction on rare earth minerals. He noted that the United States relies almost exclusively on one supplier and there is no other country to turn to if China decides to withdraw key minerals from the market. Burnett reminds readers that America is home to more than $6.2 million worth of key minerals and those minerals can be used to bolster national security if legislation — like that introduced by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) — is enacted to remedy the duplicative and outdated permitting process currently in place.

Read the full post here.