by Audrey Streb
The Daily Caller
Under President Donald Trump’s administration, the permitting process for “critical mineral” mining is set to be more “transparent” as the greenlit projects will have a public review process.
The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (Permitting Council) announced this adjustment on Friday to bring “increased transparency, accountability, and predictability” to the review process. This comes after the National Energy Dominance Council (NEDC) selected its “first wave” of “critical mineral” projects in accordance with Trump’s March 20 executive order on expanding “American mineral production.”…
“It’s a good start,” Steve Milloy, a senior legal fellow at the Energy & Environment Legal Institute and creator of Junk Science told the DCNF.
Though Milloy stated that the U.S. has “got a long way to go” when it comes to expanding domestic mineral mining, he noted that China dominates much of the critical mineral industry and hosts the processing plants necessary for the refinement process.
“I’d like to see a whole strategy for building facilities to process these things,” Milloy continued. “But again, you’ve got to start someplace.”
He also referenced the National Environmental Policy Act, which “allows for endless challenges,” he said, as it often slows down or extends the permitting process. Several hurdles would need to be cleared in order to build new refining facilities on U.S. soil, including getting air and water permits greenlit, Milloy said.
