{"id":3933,"date":"2023-06-23T11:50:09","date_gmt":"2023-06-23T16:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/?p=3933"},"modified":"2023-06-23T11:50:09","modified_gmt":"2023-06-23T16:50:09","slug":"hawley-confronted-biden-official-over-admins-decision-to-block-mineral-mining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/?p=3933","title":{"rendered":"Hawley Confronted Biden Official Over Admin\u2019s Decision To Block Mineral Mining"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20370%20247'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/image-102.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"zeen-lazy-load-base zeen-lazy-load wp-image-3934\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"376\" src=\"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/image-102.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3934\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/image-102.png 696w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/image-102-300x162.png 300w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/image-102-293x158.png 293w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/image-102-390x211.png 390w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" \/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley confronted a Biden official during a hearing Thursday over the administration\u2019s decision to block mineral mining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fs.usda.gov\/inside-fs\/delivering-mission\/excel\/deputy-chief-hall-rivera-testimony-examining-challenges-facing-0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jaelith Hall-Rivera<\/a>, the deputy chief of state and private forestry at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was testifying before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources when Hawley began questioning her about the Biden administration\u2019s decision to prohibit&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2023\/01\/26\/biden-administration-minnesota-mining-project-copper\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">mineral mining<\/a>&nbsp;on nearly&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.startribune.com\/biden-administration-imposes-20-year-mining-ban-in-225000-acres-northern-minnesota-boundary-waters\/600246791\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a quarter of a million acres<\/a>&nbsp;in Minnesota. The administration\u2019s move came after a 16-month review by the Department of Interior, which concluded that the land should be protected for 20 years. The study found that mining for minerals contaminated nearby waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hawley began by establishing agreement with Hall-Rivera that critical minerals are essential to U.S. energy security before noting that research indicates demand for cobalt, nickel and lithium are expected to skyrocket over the coming decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHere\u2019s the thing that worries me, one nation in the world is currently refining 68 percent of the world\u2019s nickel. Would you care to take a guess who might be?\u201d Hawley asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI would presume China,\u201d Hall-Rivera responded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt is China,\u201d Hawley said. \u201cOne nation is refining 40 percent of the world\u2019s copper. Want to guess who that is?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI would presume the same,\u201d the administration official answered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s China! One nation has 59 percent of the lithium and 73 percent of the cobalt. Want to guess?\u201d Hawley pressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m gonna say it\u2019s China,\u201d Hall-Rivera said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt is China, so given that, would you agree with me that it\u2019s important that we do everything we can to develop our domestic critical mineral mining here in this country?\u201d the Missouri senator asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYes, I would agree with that,\u201d Hall-Rivera responded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cGreat, okay, then let me ask you about the Superior National Forest in Minnesota,\u201d Hawley continued. \u201cEarlier this year, partly at the behest of the forest service, the Biden administration withdrew 225,000 acres of critical mineral mining in northeastern Minnesota. This is the largest reserve of cobalt and nickel in the United States, perhaps I\u2019m told, maybe even in the world. And yet, your administration shut it down. Your agency recommended that it be shut down, depriving us of these minerals, making us dependent on other nations that mine them in a completely unsafe and unsustainable way and also making us more dependent on these foreign nations. Why?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI do want to say I am not an expert on that process, that\u2019s not a part of the forest service that I oversee,\u201d Hall-Rivera answered. \u201cI know we have a lot of values to balance there especially with the Boundary Waters Wilderness Area, but I\u2019m sure that we could get back to you with more details on the specifics of that decision.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI would really appreciate it, because here\u2019s my view: My view is we shouldn\u2019t be making China richer and America poorer. My view is we have the best technology in the world to mine and develop these minerals. We know how to do it in a safe and responsible manner, we should be doing it,\u201d Hawley said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhy would we want to tie our own hands and make us and the world more dependent on China, who\u2019ve got to be the worst environmental \u2014 have the worst environmental record of any nation in the world? \u2026 So I just don\u2019t get it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Biden administration has\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/05\/25\/biden-admin-blocks-yet-another-massive-mining-project-hobbling-its-own-climate-agenda\/\" target=\"_blank\">canceled<\/a>\u00a0multiple mining projects\u00a0while\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/12\/12\/biden-admin-to-fund-foreign-mining-projects-after-blocking-domestic-mines-report\/\" target=\"_blank\">prioritizing<\/a>\u00a0a transition to green energy, which requires mining critical minerals and metals. Copper, nickel and lithium are crucial to manufacturing renewable technologies,\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/iea.blob.core.windows.net\/assets\/24d5dfbb-a77a-4647-abcc-667867207f74\/TheRoleofCriticalMineralsinCleanEnergyTransitions.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">according<\/a>\u00a0to an International Energy Agency report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Original Article: <a href=\"https:\/\/heartlanddailynews.com\/2023\/06\/hawley-confronted-biden-official-over-admins-decision-to-block-mineral-mining\/\">https:\/\/heartlanddailynews.com\/2023\/06\/hawley-confronted-biden-official-over-admins-decision-to-block-mineral-mining\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley confronted a Biden official during a hearing Thursday over the administration\u2019s decision to block mineral mining. Jaelith Hall-Rivera, the deputy chief of state and private forestry at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was testifying before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources when Hawley began questioning her about the Biden administration\u2019s decision to prohibit&nbsp;mineral mining&nbsp;on nearly&nbsp;a quarter of a million acres&nbsp;in Minnesota. The administration\u2019s move came after a 16-month review by the Department of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3933"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3935,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3933\/revisions\/3935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}