[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 152 (Tuesday, October 29, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7631-S7632]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. MURKOWSKI (for herself, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Udall of Colorado, 
        Mr. Heller, Mr. Enzi, Mrs. Hagan, Mr. Thune, Mr. Coons, Mr. 
        Hoeven, Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Coats, Mr. Begich, Mr. Risch, Ms. 
        Klobuchar, Mr. Blunt, Mr. Franken, and Mr. Crapo):
  S. 1600. A bill to facilitate the reestablishment of domestic, 
critical mineral designation, assessment, production, manufacturing, 
recycling, analysis, forecasting, workforce, education, research, and 
international capabilities in the United States, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, our national security depends upon minerals 
that enable nearly all of the defense and weapons systems used by the 
U.S. Armed Forces. These minerals are also critical to the clean 
energy, electronics, and medical industries. Yet, for how critical 
these minerals are, the vast majority of our domestic supply is 
imported from China in order to reduce cost. In fact, China supplies 90 
to 95 percent of our rare earth oxides, a special class of critical 
minerals. We have seen how dangerous this dependence can be--in 2009, 
China choked off the supply of these materials to the rest of the 
world, restricting exports by 72 percent and causing the prices of rare 
earth elements to skyrocket here in the U.S.
  I am pleased to join Senators Murkowski, Udall, and Heller as the 
leading sponsors of bipartisan legislation to prevent future supply 
shocks of these critical minerals that are the key to our defense, 
energy, electronics, and medical industries by expanding U.S. 
production and supply of these important substances. This legislation--
the Critical Minerals Policy Act of 2013--builds on two bills that were 
introduced in the 112th Congress and which were referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. S. 383, the Critical 
Minerals and Materials Promotion Act of 2011, which I cosponsored, was 
introduced by Senator Mark Udall. S. 1113, the Critical Minerals Policy 
Act, was introduced by Senator Murkowski. The Energy and Natural 
Resources Committee held a hearing on these bills in June 2011, and 
this new bill is a product of those efforts. We are being joined by 13 
of our Senate colleagues as original bipartisan cosponsors: Senators 
Risch, Hagan, Thune, Begich, Enzi, Coons, Hoeven, Landrieu, Coats, 
Klobuchar, Blunt, Franken, and Crapo.

[[Page S7632]]

  Critical minerals are pervasive in our everyday life. Let me give you 
a few examples. They are the key to stronger permanent magnets, which 
allow for smaller electric motors and other electronic devices, as well 
as for more efficient clean wind energy and MRI machines. They are 
essential for rechargeable batteries in hybrid and electric vehicles 
and the high-efficiency motors that power them. They are vital to 
phosphors, which give us more efficient lighting and flat panel 
displays. They serve as catalysts for fuel cells and for refining 
automobile fuel. Our Armed Forces also rely on critical minerals every 
time they use night-vision goggles, heads-up displays, satellite 
images, radar systems, high-energy laser weapons, precision-guided 
missiles, and fighter jets. By one estimate, the Defense Department 
alone constitutes 5 percent of total U.S. demand for rare earth 
elements. In short, critical minerals are so indispensable that we 
can't imagine life without them. They are called critical minerals 
because they are indeed critical to the development of so many high-
tech weapons systems and commercial products.
  Although China currently enjoys near-monopoly in the global 
production of critical minerals, the truth is that it doesn't have to 
be this way. China only holds 50 percent of the world's natural 
reserves, while the U.S. holds about 13 percent of the world's 
reserves, according a recent study by the U.S. Geological Survey. In 
fact, a large part of the critical minerals supply shock in 2009 was 
due to uncertainty about the global distribution of critical minerals. 
When China began to restrict supply, the rest of the world was in the 
dark about what alternative sources of supply were even available. 
Clearly, there is significant work to be done in this field.
  The bill being introduced today outlines a series of measures to 
expand U.S. supplies of critical minerals starting with the 
identification of which minerals and elements are truly in need of 
special attention. The bill then requires the Interior Department to 
conduct assessments of where these minerals are located within the U.S. 
and expands research to find more efficient ways of extracting and 
processing those minerals. The bill also includes research programs to 
extract critical minerals from unconventional sources, such as coal or 
geothermal energy wells, as well as recycling these important 
substances from obsolete devices. The bill also requires the two lead 
agencies which manage our public lands and forests--the Department of 
the Interior and the Department of Agriculture--to reexamine the 
permitting processes for hard rock minerals under current law to see if 
there are ways of reducing delays for mining projects that would 
extract critical minerals. This legislation also includes programs to 
enable our next generation of scientists studying critical minerals and 
to prepare them for jobs in these fields as well as efforts to work 
with our international trading partners on expanding worldwide supplies 
of these materials.
  I commend Senator Murkowski for her leadership on this issue. This 
legislation is important for our national security. It is important for 
our high-tech manufacturing industries. It is important for U.S. 
competitiveness. I ask all Senators to support this bipartisan 
legislation.
                                 ______