Faster Mining Won’t Bring Peace, Security, or Climate Action

The mining industry claims that the United States needs to speed up mine permitting to secure the minerals needed for the renewable energy transition. But make no mistake, these and any other actions that seek to boost extraction benefit mining companies alone.

In 1996, Congress restructured hardrock mining duties of the Executive Branch by abolishing the Bureau of Mines, moving its permitting remit to the Bureau of Land Management (which was already permitting oil and gas extraction), and creating the United States Geological Survey to carry out its scientific mission. In the wake of the 2024 election, the mining industry is encouraging the Trump Administration to resurrect the Bureau of Mines on national security and climate grounds. 

Opening or reopening the Bureau of Mines would require an act of Congress, so it’s no surprise that the National Mining Association (leading this effort along with the American Exploration & Mining Association and the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration) spent nearly $2 million lobbying Congress in 2024. In the shorter term, the president may select a “mining czar” or point person with authority to expand hardrock mining by streamlining permitting, adjusting subsidies, and limiting community input for environmental and cultural reviews of energy transition mineral mines. ETMs, sometimes called critical minerals, including lithium and nickel, are used for electric vehicle batteries, other renewable energy technologies, and in defense applications. China is the source of many ETMs as a result of several decades of industrial policy decisions.

A Bureau of Mines resurrected in the current political environment of unabashed pro-extractive sentiment—from both parties and throughout all government agencies, heightened by rampant sinophobia—would be disastrous for communities and the natural resources (namely, fresh water) upon which we all depend. And as for domestic laws, the 1872 Mining Law is probably the most permissive mining statute in the world. But the mineral scarcity narrative is intoxicating, especially to a settler-colonial country built on resource extraction and constant expansion. 

An empowered Bureau of Mines could exploit fears of mineral scarcity to justify implementing all of the policies communities impacted by extraction have tried to prevent for years. These  include weakening the National Environmental Protection Act, Endangered Species Act, and Clean Water Act; speeding permitting (even though average and median mine permit times span only three years); stockpiling minerals in an unnecessary reserve; implementing various price supports; controlling imports and exports; and subsidizing other ETM extraction and processing in the US. This list comes largely from bills introduced last Congress supported by the mining industry, including far-fetched possibilities like mining the moon and/or asteroids (something in which the nominee for NASA Administrator has voiced interest). 

Relocating mineral extraction and processing to the US solves neither the climate crisis nor national security. Instead, the US and other Global North countries must coordinate amongst themselves to reduce demand for raw extraction in all forms. For ETMs, the majority of proposed demand results from US car dependency. By expanding mobility options through investments in public transit, biking and walking infrastructure, and reducing vehicle size, improving battery efficiency, pursuing alternative battery chemistries, and other strategies, governments at all levels can substantially reduce the need for new ETM extraction, while bettering the quality of life for people everywhere. Once extracted, reuse, remanufacture, refurbishment, and, finally, recycling furnish many opportunities to keep ETMs in circulation. 

Americans should not be fooled into thinking more and faster extraction solves the serious crises happening. Circular economy solutions, on the other hand, rely on less ETM extraction in the short-, medium-, and long-term. Those truly committed to advocating for a better, more just world must commit to fighting any attempt to streamline extraction in any way, under any administration.