Press Releases

Today, Congressional Western Caucus Chairman Dan Newhouse (WA-04), Vice Chair Pete Stauber (MN-08) and domestic mining stakeholders released the following statements in response to problematic recommendations by the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Interagency Working Group (IWG) on mining. Problematic proposals in the report include an 8% royalty rate, the failure to address permitting timelines and the dirt tax.
 
“Yet again, while claiming to support domestic mining the Biden Administration’s actions prove otherwise,” said Chairman Dan Newhouse (WA-04). “The IWG’s recommendations will hinder domestic mining and lead to greater reliance on foreign adversarial nations such as Communist China for the minerals needed for everyday items, our national security, and our energy needs. The West is ripe with critical minerals that would allow our economy to reach new heights, but the Biden Administration is actively hindering our economic progress. As Chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus, I will continue to push back on policy proposals harmful to rural America such as this that will hurt domestic mining jobs and our mineral supply chains.”

“President Biden’s mining policy has always been anywhere but America, any worker but American,” said Vice Chair Pete Stauber (MN-08). “These misguided recommendations put forward by the DOI’s Interagency Working Group will do nothing to change that, leaving us reliant on hostile foreign nations. This only makes our country less competitive and is both a national and economic security threat. My home state of Minnesota is blessed with the largest copper-nickel find in the world, so I will continue to work with Chairman Newhouse and the rest of my Western Caucus colleagues on crafting legislative reforms that actually allow our miners to develop these resources here at home.”

“It’s clear that when it comes to the global minerals game, the U.S. is critically outmatched—by our geopolitical rivals and allies alike, and the administration acknowledges this,” said Rich Nolan, President and CEO of the National Mining Association (NMA). “Unfortunately, if the Biden-Harris administration’s stated objective is to secure our nation’s domestic mineral supply chains while supporting responsible mining, the recommendations contained in this report don’t do anything to advance the ball. In fact, most of the recommendations made by the IWG reveal a fundamental lack of understanding of our industry and the laws that govern it, and will throw insurmountable obstacles in the way of responsible domestic projects and would-be investment.”

“We simply are not moving mining projects forward in a timeframe that will allow our Nation to achieve its ambitious clean energy objectives or reduce our reliance on foreign minerals that empowers our adversaries to strategically weaponize minerals against us,” said Mark Compton, Executive Director of the American Exploration & Mining Association (AEMA). “The Interagency Working Group’s (IWG) report was an opportunity to identify ways to eliminate some of the current barriers to discovering and developing minerals on public lands. Unfortunately, in many ways it missed the mark. With skyrocketing global mineral demand and bipartisan recognition of the need for a strong domestic mineral supply chain to reduce our risky dependence on foreign minerals, the IWG was formed to be a whole government effort ‘to promote the sustainable and responsible development of critical minerals.’ Yet, despite bipartisan mandates for a more efficient permitting process, the administration rolls out ideas that have repeatedly been rejected by Congress. The intention of the IWG was to improve our process and increase domestic mining, not derail it. AEMA is committed to continuing to work constructively with the administration and Congress to ensure the timely advancement of domestic minerals projects to help meet our Nation’s critical needs.”

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