Ernest Scheidel
(Reuters) – Mining trade groups plan to push Washington to revive and expand the long-dormant Bureau of Mines, a move aimed at streamlining how the U.S. government regulates and supports production of critical minerals and timed to coincide with the 2024 presidential election.
The lobbying effort, details of which have not been previously reported, is set to launch this month ahead of the Republican and Democratic political conventions. That would put the United States’ decentralized mining regulations in stark contrast to Australia and other countries where senior mining-related agencies report directly to the head of government, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
Lithium and other key minerals are used in many electronic products, and demand for electric vehicle battery production is expected to surge further in the coming years. China is the world’s largest producer or processor of many important minerals.
U.S. mining policy is currently governed by multiple agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
The bureau closed in 1996 due to budget cuts. Proponents argue that driving recovery and adding new responsibilities will allow Washington to develop unified critical minerals policies, including permitting, research funding, and industry grants and loans, that can extend across presidential administrations and help the United States better engage with China. compete.
“Mining decisions are currently fragmented across multiple government agencies, making transparency and accountability very difficult,” said Rich Nolan, trade group leader for the National Mining Association, which spearheaded the effort along with the American Exploration and Mining Association and the Association Promote this work.
SMEs representing academics and others conducting mining-related research are drafting a position paper that will be used by two other groups to lobby MPs, according to one source.
The groups acknowledged they were unlikely to succeed this year but hoped to do so in the next Congress, which takes place between 2025 and 2027, the sources said, adding that it was unclear how much funding the restored bureau would need.
Mitch Krebs, CEO of Chicago-based silver miner Coeur Mining (NYSE: ), said: “If the new regulatory authority can bring some efficiencies to the duplicative and inefficient permitting process, then this will It could bring huge benefits to the country.
Critics of the latest plan point out that the original Bureau of Mines never oversaw mining permits and that mining could still face opposition from conservation groups and environmental regulators.
“The re-establishment of the Bureau of Mines is not going to solve anything,” said Michelle Michot Foss, an energy, minerals and materials fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. “There’s nothing major that’s going to happen to the mining industry. works better than it does now.”
Additionally, if the goal is to have the bureau report directly to the president, it would need to elevate it to a cabinet-level agency, a step that would require congressional approval.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Founded in 1910 after a series of mining disasters, the bureau had more than 4,000 employees by 1960 and was responsible for inspecting mines, conducting mineral-related research, researching specialty metals for the space age, and operating a helium separation plant that supplied NASA .
In 1996, its $152 million annual budget was eliminated as part of a budget deal between Republicans and then-President Bill Clinton.
Rhea Graham was appointed by Clinton in 1994 as the first black woman to lead the bureau, but she was only given 90 days to shut down the bureau.
“When the bureau closed, it sent a signal about how seriously we as a country value science and how science funding is more volatile than people think,” Graham said.
