Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 1373 permanently bans oil, natural gas, geothermal, uranium, and other critical minerals and rare earth leasing and production on over a million acres of land in Arizona. This commonsense amendment does not kill the bill. It delays the effective date until we have done adequate mapping and surveying of the minerals and resources in this area. Specifically, the amendment allows the bill to go into effect when the Secretary of the Interior completes a mineral survey of the area proposed for withdrawal including uranium, rare earth elements, geothermal, and oil and gas resources, and determines that there are no mineral resources, geothermal resources, or critical minerals present, other than uranium. The temporary political mineral withdrawal imposed in 2012 by the Obama administration that focused exclusively on banning mining cost the surrounding areas in Arizona and Utah between two and 4,000 jobs and $29 billion in overall regional economic activity. The previous administration's misguided actions killed more than 7,000 hard-rock mining claims in the area over a 3-year span. This legislation would expand the withdrawal area and also expand the mineral withdrawal in the withdrawal area to include oil and gas leasing, geothermal leasing, and other mineral development in addition to mining. Mr. Chairman, there are rare earths and other valuable minerals, including copper and uranium, in this area.…”