Letter to Hon. David Bernhard, U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary and Hon. Sonny Perdue, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary - Murkowski, Bishop Lead Congressional Push for Domestic Mineral Production

Letter

Dear Secretary Bernhardt and Secretary Perdue:

We write to thank you for your leadership in proposing rules to modernize regulations governing the domestic production of locatable minerals on federal land and encourage you to finalize these rulemakings as soon as possible. As you know, there are opportunities to improve the regulatory environment by streamlining authorizations, reducing costs, and improving security of tenure.

Such changes would help to strengthen domestic supply chains for every facet of the manufacturing economy, which would support the President's trade policy objectives. These potential changes would also be consistent with the spirit of the President's Critical Minerals Executive Order of December 20, 2017, which was focused on improving national security by reducing our reliance upon foreign suppliers of critical minerals. And modernizing these regulations will serve as a catalyst for investment, which is vital as the U.S. works to overcome the economic impacts of COVID-19.

Thank you in advance for your work to advance regulatory reform and modernization. We look forward to seeing the results of this work and stand ready to assist the Departments in completing these important rules as soon as possible.