ConservAmerica Encourages Congressional Leaders to Address Critical Minerals Supply Chain

ConservAmerica President Jeff Kupfer sent a letter to congressional leaders last week stressing the need for policies that support critical minerals development in the United States.

ConservAmerica recently released the report “Strengthening America’s Mineral Security: Net Import Dependence, Supply Chain Vulnerability, and the Case for Critical Minerals,” examining federal mining and energy policy related to the production and refining of critical minerals. The report recommends a series of steps the government could take to reverse one of the nation’s most persistent and pervasive national security and economic challenges.

“The data makes clear that America has a deep, persistent, and dangerous reliance on overseas production and processing. This is largely a problem of our own making – one that can be addressed by reforming our national policy framework in support of mineral and energy resource development,” Kupfer wrote in the letter. “A shift in federal policy is essential and long overdue to solving America’s deepening dependence on foreign countries, particularly China, for minerals that are essential to our energy, economic, and national security interests.”

Links to ConservAmerica’s letter to Senate and House leaders.

Critical minerals – including cobalt, nickel, lithium, copper, and rare elements – are essential to advanced clean energy technologies. While wind turbines, solar panels, batteries, and electric vehicles don’t require fossil fuels to operate, they do require minerals. Therefore, the availability and affordability of these mineral building blocks are crucial to meet our environmental and energy goals.

Competition for these minerals is growing worldwide as national governments seek to transition their economies to cleaner energy sources. Policymakers must take seriously the challenges the United States faces in creating a reliable and responsible domestic production and refining supply chain.

The letter and copies of the report were sent to Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in the Senate, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in the House.

ConservAmerica will provide additional policy recommendations to strengthen America’s energy and mineral independence this year.