Palmer Urges Action to Strengthen U.S. Critical Mineral Supply Chains

Congressman Gary Palmer (R-AL6), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, emphasized the urgent need to bolster domestic critical mineral supply chains during a hearing titled "Examining Ways to Enhance Our Domestic Mineral Supply Chains."

"Today’s hearing addresses the crucial challenge that the U.S. is facing—how to decouple and derisk ourselves from China and other foreign adversaries and build critical mineral supply chains within the U.S.," Palmer stated at the May 21 hearing.

Critical minerals are vital components in everyday items such as smartphones, computer hard drives, televisions, batteries, and lightbulbs. They also play significant roles in the electrical grid and have defense applications.

Palmer highlighted the U.S.'s historical leadership in producing and refining critical minerals, including rare earth elements. However, by the late 1990s, much of this industry had moved overseas.

"According to a review in the United States Geological Survey Mineral Commodity Summaries 2024, the U.S. was 100 percent import reliant for 12 of the 50 critical minerals on the 2022 critical minerals list and more than 50 percent import reliant for an additional 29," he noted.

The Congressman attributed this decline to factors such as burdensome permitting processes, regulatory challenges, market uncertainties, and legal obstacles.

"Getting domestic processing and refining facilities up and running is an extremely long process—it can take 10 to 20 years for new processing plants and smelters to become operational," Palmer explained.

He cited a 2019 example where a U.S. rare earth mine sent 98 percent of its raw materials to China due to a lack of domestic processing capacity.

"We must ensure that we have access to these materials and the ability to process them without reliance on foreign adversaries, including China," Palmer asserted.

Palmer commended President Trump's actions to address these challenges.

"I want to applaud President Trump for declaring a national energy emergency on day one of his presidency, emphasizing that the U.S.’s identification, production, and refining of critical minerals are inadequate to meet domestic needs," he said.

The hearing explored strategies to increase capacity and resilience in American critical mineral supply chains.

"We look forward to working with the Trump Administration on the mission to increase the capacity and resilience of domestic critical mineral supply chains," Palmer concluded.

Rep. Palmer’s opening statement may be read HERE, or viewed on YouTube: