New Bureau of Land Management Analysis Shows Mining Supports More than 83,000 Nevada Jobs
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining, convened a hearing on the vital need to pass her Mining Regulatory Clarity Act and protect critical mineral production in the west. Cortez Masto’s bill would address the recent Rosemont judicial decision, which could threaten responsible mining projects across the west and the more than 83,000 jobs supported by the mining industry in Nevada.
Cortez Masto called out the impacts of the misguided Rosemont judicial decision, which would prohibit mining-support activities, like waste storage or processing, on lands that do not contain economically valuable minerals. “It makes no economic sense…if [mines] are forced to store waste rock or build administrative offices on mineral-rich land, they can’t access the resource,” said the senator. She also confirmed that her Mining Regulatory Clarity Act does not give mining companies unrestricted access to federal land, prohibit the construction of renewable energy projects on public lands, or undermine Tribal rights.
“The key to our clean energy transition is to invest in the production of clean energy technologies that reduce our carbon emissions, but we cannot create those technologies without critical minerals – and that begins with mining,” she continued. “As we take the necessary steps to address climate change…we must produce minerals in the United States and not solely rely on foreign sources, some of whom threaten our national security and don’t uphold the same environmental and labor standards. All of this means we must address the complications created by the Rosemont decision.”
Expert witnesses confirmed the Rosemont decision is slowing down critical mineral mining projects across the U.S., threatening good-paying mining jobs, and making it more difficult to meet the nation’s climate goals.
Senator Cortez Masto has led efforts in Congress to support Nevada’s mining industry, protecting more than 83,000 local jobs and paving the way for Nevada to power the clean energy economy. She has consistently blocked burdensome taxes on mining and wrote important provisions of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to bolster Nevada’s critical mineral supply chain and fund battery recycling programs in the state.
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