Sen. Murkowski (R-AK) Pushes Legislation to Strengthen America’s Mineral Security

Last week, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced the American Mineral Security Act of 2015, which aims to improve the United States’ inefficient mine permitting policy. Our current process puts our nation dead last among top mining countries when ranked on permit delays. This stifles manufacturing, hinders economic growth and forfeits thousands of jobs. However, this new legislation could have a major impact on mining and the industries that heavily rely on minerals and metals.

Murkowski states,

“To improve the efficiency of the notoriously slow federal permitting process for new mines, the American Mineral Security Act includes a series of reasonable steps to reduce delays and ensure timely decisions. The seven to 10 years it currently takes to approve a new mine in the United States is often singled out as a serious liability for our competitiveness and ability to draw investment.”

As Murkowski notes, this inefficient mining process discourages investment in new mines, causing manufacturers to rely on minerals from overseas. This also jeopardizes our economic growth and technological innovation. In fact, a National Mining Association (NMA) survey shows that dependence on foreign nations for minerals that are critical to our energy, defense, electronics, medical and manufacturing sectors has left many manufacturing executives worried about supply disruptions outside of their control. 

Thankfully, Sen. Murkowski’s legislation aims to revitalize the United States’ minerals supply chain, help reduce our dependence on foreign imports and improve the efficiency of the duplicative federal permitting process for new mines. NMA president and CEO Hal Quinn applauds Sen. Murkowski’s action, stating:

“Sen. Murkowski’s bill…will modernize the permitting system for U.S. mining to better position our country to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Simply, her bill will better prepare our country to meet the competitive challenges we face in strengthening future economic growth and the U.S. manufacturing revival.”

NMA urges support for American minerals and Sen. Murkowski’s legislation. If we allow U.S. mining to perform to its full potential, our nation can enjoy enormous growth and job-creation opportunities, support the domestic manufacturing revival and attract global investment dollars.

Learn more about this legislation here.