Political Quotes

“I'm very pleased to yield 2 minutes to my colleague from the great State of Washington (Mrs. McMorris Rodgers). Mrs. McMORRIS RODGERS. I thank the chairman from the great State of Washington for yielding, and I rise in strong support of Mr. Amodei's important legislation, the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act, because if we want to build it in America, then we need to be able to mine it in America. This legislation is important in identifying and promoting strategic and critical minerals here in America. It will make us more competitive by addressing permitting delays, improving the NEPA process, and revitalizing our domestic critical minerals supply chain. Madam Chairman, it takes longer to receive a mining development permit in the United States than in any of the other 25 mining nations in the world. The average waiting period for a permit is 7 to 10 years, and in many examples, it's much longer. We can improve this process without changing our environmental standards. The Kettle River-Buckhorn mine in eastern Washington that employs over 400 people in Ferry County knows this all too well. The EIS schedule and now the important exploratory permits to keep them operating have been delayed for years and was recently delayed for an additional year without much explanation. This bill is important. It's important to bringing jobs to America, bringing job certainty to Ferry County and eastern Washington.…”