Teresa Leger Fernandez: “America was blessed by our creator with natural beauty and an abundance of natural resources, from grazing to farmlands…”

“America was blessed by our creator with natural beauty and an abundance of natural resources, from grazing to farmlands to minerals, fossil fuels, solar, and wind so we could feed our families and fuel our progress. We owe the American people, and, most importantly, our children and grandchildren, a duty to protect those resources so they are available for future generations and Americans are not left with public lands that have been degraded, mines that have been depleted, and profits sent off to foreign corporations. Yes, there are profits sent to China because they own some of those mines. H.R. 2925 would make it harder to protect the lands that make this country beautiful. Worst of all, it favors the biggest mining corporations and even allows foreign corporations to take American resources for free. There is a long history of bad actors exploiting, misusing, and abusing their mining claims, especially those corporations with ties to foreign adversarial nations. H.R. 2925 would give away our Federal lands to these bad actors. Why would Republicans work on a bipartisan basis to ban China from mining American data with TikTok but then be okay with China mining American natural resources for free? Why? Under the Republicans' proposal, Chinese corporations with the money could put four sticks in the ground, pay a fee, and then claim that land for mining without even proving the existence of these important minerals.…”