Katie Sweeney, the executive vice president at the National Mining Association, says this is the hottest policy environment for domestic mining that she's seen in her 32 years with the trade group. And the interest is bipartisan. Sweeney said she's hoping to capitalize on the increased appetite for critical minerals, which is only set to rise after last week's surprise deal among Democrats on tax credits for renewable energy and electric vehicles — which need lithium, copper, nickel, cobalt and other metals. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. There’s a lot going on with mining policy — the Biden administration's use of the Defense Production Act, the Interior Department's working group, several bills in Congress, and now the permitting agreement attached to the Inflation Reduction Act. What is the kind of mining policy the NMA wants, and what potential reforms would you support? We would like to be competitive on a global level when it comes to developments of mining and processing of minerals here in the United States. That clearly is no longer the case as we’ve become increasingly reliant on foreign sources of minerals, many of which we have here. Clearly one of the changes would be to improve the efficiencies of the permitting system. I’m not talking about environmental shortcuts. We’re talking about reducing bureaucracy so that mining projects can move forward more quickly and with more certainty. It’s really the certainty we need to attract the investment dollars for mining projects. NMA is also on record as supporting a royalty, but it has to be the right type of royalty, not a punitive one and one that allows us to continue to be competitive. What is your reaction to the Inflation Reduction Act? There are key sections of the bill that really focus on American job creation with American-sourced minerals. We like the requirement that minerals for batteries be sourced close to home rather than from our geopolitical rivals. Doing that directly supports the high-paying jobs here in the United States, strengthens our economy, definitely secures our supply chain and really enhances our global competitiveness. What is the NMA’s role in the Interior Department’s interagency working group for mining reform? NMA is not part of the interagency working group, but we were invited to the kickoff meeting. This working group is really trying to wrap their heads around potential recommendations for changes to the mining law, mining regulations and permitting. So it’s a pretty broad job that they’ve got there, and a very short timeframe to come out with these recommendations. They’re supposed to have recommendations in legislation in November, and they’re supposed to have recommendations on regulatory changes by the end of the year. I’d say that there are many of the participating agencies who clearly recognize that every single thing this administration wants to achieve relies on mining. Demand is skyrocketing at such a rapid pace that we need to look at multi-pronged solutions, and that includes looking here for domestic resources but it also means that we have agreements with allies, looking at recycling, substitution, recovery of minerals from waste and tailings as well. There is just so much demand that we can’t overlook any solutions. There are Democratic-led bills that would ban mining near the Boundary Waters area in Minnesota, and the Clean Energy Minerals Reform Act that would change the mining law and exact a royalty. Given all the activity around mining in Congress and at agencies, is anyone getting ahead of anyone else in terms of process? This is just not the right time for those kinds of bills that completely upend the mining law and create such uncertainty. It’s wildly counterproductive to the other conversations going on to ensure essential supply chains and really build the mineral industry base that we need to underpin the energy transition and EV revolution.
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