Sen. Lisa Murkowski
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) earlier this week urged Biden administration officials to prioritize congressionally mandated critical mineral initiatives and to immediately provide Congress with an update on their implementation efforts.
Specifically, Sen. Murkowski and U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) expressed concerns about the administration’s delayed implementation of the critical mineral provisions contained in the Energy Act of 2020 and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in four separate May 16 letters sent to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, and U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.
Sen. Murkowski and Sen. Manchin authored the Energy Act of 2020, which Congress passed as part of the fiscal year 2021 omnibus appropriations bill that President Donald Trump signed into law on Dec. 27, 2020.
“Congress acted to provide substantial new authorities and federal assistance to boost domestic mineral supplies through the Energy Act of 2020, as well as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,” the lawmakers wrote in each of the letters. “Due to the severity of the challenge, and the need for a robust and rapid federal effort, many of these mineral provisions contained deadlines. Unfortunately, those deadlines have not been met.”
In efforts to maintain and strengthen the nation’s leadership and to rebuild its productive capacity in key sectors and value-chains, Sen. Murkowski and her colleague said the administration must prioritize these initiatives and ensure crucial deadlines are met.
“Without this effort we will remain vulnerable due to our lack of domestic production and processing of critical minerals, including rare earth elements,” they wrote in the letters, which were similar but not identical.
And though the lawmakers said they appreciated President Joe Biden’s focus on the issue, they wrote that a whole-of-government approach is required to meet the challenge.
“Timely implementation of the provisions of the Energy Act are crucial to ensuring that America’s critical mineral supply chains are strong, responsibly produced, and ethically sourced,” they wrote.