Chairman Palmer Delivers Opening Statement at Subcommittee on Environment Hearing on Critical Material Supply Chains
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Gary Palmer (AL-06), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Environment, delivered the following opening statement at today’s hearing on critical mineral supply chains.
Subcommittee Chairman Palmer’s opening statement as prepared for delivery:
“Good afternoon, and thank you all for joining us for today’s very important hearing about how U.S. environmental laws impact critical material supply chains, national security, and economic growth.
“Our country has a rich bounty of natural resources and, for most of the 20th Century, the United States was the leader in producing and refining critical minerals.
“However, in the past several decades, China has aggressively sought to dominate the global market for critical minerals – with dire consequences for our national security.
“China now is responsible for almost exclusively producing about two dozen critical minerals that our national security and defense depend on. And most of the so-called “black mass” that is recovered from lithium ion batteries is shipped back to China for recycling.
“Today, April 22, is recognized as ‘Earth Day.’ It is fitting that we are discussing how the move of critical supply chains to China has coincided with the enactment of multiple environmental laws in the U.S., where we have seen improvements to our environment, but at what cost to our manufacturing economy and national security?
“President Trump has issued several executive orders to focus the federal government’s attention on these risks and to have all departments and agencies working together to reshore the domestic critical mineral mining and processing supply chains. My bill, H.R. 4370, the Securing America’s Mineral Supply Act, would codify these policies to support domestic critical mineral mining and processing.
“As we on the Energy and Commerce Committee consider legislative reforms to the Toxic Substances Control Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and other environmental laws, we should work together to find solutions that support the reshoring of the entire crucial mineral supply chain. It will make little sense for us to support increased critical mineral mining in the U.S. if we are not also supporting the other parts of the supply chain from the manufacture of chemicals and energy needed to process critical minerals to the facilities needed to recover and recycle these valuable commodities on the back end.
“Given our broad jurisdiction, the Energy and Commerce Committee is well positioned to advance commonsense legislative reforms to ensure that the U.S. has the tools it needs to both produce and process critical minerals in this country.
“We have an excellent panel with us today to discuss the challenges in securing domestic supply chains for critical materials.
“First, we have Mr. Chris Lehman, Chief Development Officer for Principal Mineral, which is working to build out the domestic supply chain for critical minerals. Mr. Lehman served as the Director of the Defense Production Act’s Title III program during the first Trump administration and helped to set up the Office of Strategic Capital.
“Second, we have Dr. Beia Spiller, a Fellow and the Transportation Program Director with Resources for the Future.
“Next, we will hear from Jane Neal, Senior Vice President for AMG Vanadium, which is working to secure the domestic supply chain for vanadium, a critical mineral that is used to harden steel and in a variety of aerospace applications.
“Finally, we will hear from Josh Gubkin, Associate General Counsel for Redwood Materials, which works to recover critical minerals from used batteries. Mr. Gubkin has decades of experience as a lawyer and consultant working on complicated chemical safety and recycling issues.”