US miners push Washington to revive long-dormant Bureau of Mines
By: Ernest Scheyder (Reuters)
No, the Bureau of Mines won't be coming back. That would require neoliberal Democrats and neoliberal Republicans admitting they screwed the pooch. Al Gore and Newt Gingrich both take credit for closing the Bureau of Mines. Bruce Babbitt gained cred as an environmentalists to distract from his anti-Indian policies at Interior. There's been too much dirt swept under the rug. After all, money, politics, and selling out the United States are the legacy of Clinton's reinvention of government. Who wants to upset the pig trough?
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S E E D E D C O N T E N T
July 5, 2024 -- Mining trade groups plan to push Washington to revive and expand the long-dormant Bureau of Mines, an effort aimed at streamlining how the U.S. government regulates and supports critical minerals production and timed to coincide with the 2024 presidential election. The lobbying campaign, details of which have not previously been reported, is set to launch this month ahead of the Republican and Democratic political conventions. It will contrast scattered U.S. mining oversight with Australia and other countries where senior mining-related agencies report directly to heads of government, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the effort. Lithium, copper and other critical minerals are used in many electronics and demand is expected to surge further in coming years for production of electric-vehicle batteries. China is the world's largest producer or processor of many critical minerals. U.S. mining policy is currently administered through 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 during budget cuts. The push to resuscitate it and add new responsibilities would, supporters argue, allow Washington to craft a unified critical minerals policy for permitting, research funding, and industry grants and loans that could stretch between presidential administrations and help the U.S. better compete …
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Al Gore claimed we threatened the environment. Newt Gingrich claimed we were corporate welfare. The reality is that we were a non-regulatory agency that the mining and mineral industries trusted and depended on. The United States has earned the right to be helplessly dependent upon China for everything.
Savor the moment, folks.