“America’s dependence on foreign nations for minerals is a choice. Our solution to our dependence isn’t a lack of resource; it is a lack of courage and commitment to produce the resources here,” declared Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Resources Wednesday.
During a subcommittee hearing to examine the domestic critical minerals supply and demand chain, U.S. rare earths advocate Lamborn declared, “It is a policy of the Obama Administration that is bent on destroying jobs in the mining industry, from vetoing approved coal mines in Appalachia, to pre-emptively vetoing mines which haven’t even been proposed in Alaska.”
“If we are legitimately concerned about rare earth minerals, we should be asking why it will take a decade to approve a mine in one of the world’s largest resources in Wyoming. Why are Obama Administration Forest Service employees actively lobbying communities in opposition to the rare earth mine?” Lamborn asked.
However, Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-California, said his Securing Energy Critical Elements and American Jobs Act of 2014 — which would have stepped up America’s exploration of critical elements — failed to pass a full vote of the U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday because of threats from what he called “extreme right-wing groups”. Nevertheless, Swalwell told Lamborn Wednesday he was willing to work with Lamborn and the subcommittee to get the U.S. “in the game” as far as having a domestic supply of rare earths.
