Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios
Senate Energy and Natural Resources advanced a bill Wednesday that would make it easier to site mining projects — and potentially build momentum around a bigger minerals package.
Why it matters: Winning Democratic votes for the bill to address the Rosemont decision is a key marker of compromise for a broader package.
- ENR Ranking Member Martin Heinrich voted against the bill because he wants more funding for mining reclamation, but said he's "very close" to reaching a deal on language.
Driving the news: The Mineral Regulatory Clarity Act would leave the Rosemont decision in place. The 2022 ruling limited where mining companies can locate support facilities in areas that have an economically recoverable mineral resource.
- But the bill would allow mining companies an alternative permitting path for mills, shafts, crushers, and waste facilities on federal land.
- Without the bill, U.S. mining "would be severely impacted for the foreseeable future, setting back bipartisan efforts to create domestic supply chains for critical minerals," said Catherine Cortez Masto, the bill's sponsor.
- The committee approved the bill 14–6. It also voted 13–7 to advance a separate bill that would expand mining in Montana.
Environmentalists have criticized Cortez Masto's bill, saying it would gut safeguards to prevent mining pollution.
Between the lines: Heinrich said he wants to add maintenance fees at $400 a year for reclamation activities funded by the Abandoned Hardrock Mine Reclamation Program that the IIJA established.
- Although that fund has reached about $20 million, the need is in the billions, Heinrich said.
- "It would actually go toward cleaning up abandoned sites we have, which is an unmet need on a very large scale," he told Axios.
- Heinrich and Cortez Masto said they were working on a deal on the fee structure to try to win Heinrich's support by the time the bill comes to the floor.
The committee also advanced the nominations of James Danly and Katherine MacGregor to be deputy secretaries at the Energy Department and Interior Department.
- MacGregor was advanced by a 14-6 vote, with Heinrich, Ruben Gallego and independent Angus King voting in favor.
- Danly was advanced by a 13-7 vote, with Heinrich and King voting in favor.
- The nominees got a mostly friendly hearing last week amid Democrats' questions about DOGE funding and agency staffing cuts. Heinrich on Wednesday called the nominees "tested and qualified leaders."
What's next: Two other bills, including legislation to add copper to the federal critical mineral list, were postponed pending further review.
