Biden Admin Shuts Down Future Oil and Gas Activity on Thousands of Acres

The Biden administration announced Monday that it has moved to shut down future oil, gas and mining activity on thousands of acres of New Mexico land for the next 50 years.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), a sub-agency of the Department of the Interior (DOI), issued the Monday proposal to block new oil, gas and mineral extraction activity on 4,000 acres of land in Sandoval County, New Mexico, according to a DOI press release. The proposal is motivated by the agency’s desire to safeguard tribal cultures and recreational activity in the area, and the policy would last for 50 years if finalized.

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Biden Admin Blocks Yet Another Massive Mining Project, Hobbling Its Own Climate Agenda

The Biden administration proposed stringent clean water restrictions on a watershed in southwest Alaska Wednesday, a potential fatal blow to a planned critical mineral development project.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it would review a proposal to prohibit the use of the Bristol Bay watershed as a discharge site for the Pebble Project, a mining project that would produce about 1.5 billion tons of critical minerals, including copper and molybdenum, over 20 years. The rule, which the agency will publish Thursday, would protect Bristol Bay rivers, streams and wetlands that support the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world, according to the announcement.

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Commentary: The Clean Energy Minerals Reform Act Is the Wrong Solution for American Mining

Everything in this world is either grown or mined, and if we don’t grow it or mine it in America, we import it. Events from the past few years, namely the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have highlighted America’s hunger for metals, including copper, nickel, cobalt, platinum-group elements, and more. Therefore, Congress needs to boost domestic production. Instead, the majority is putting up more arbitrary hurdles, like the so-called Clean Energy Minerals Reform Act.

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Environmentalists Are Blocking the U.S. from Controlling Its Renewable Energy Future, Experts Say

Regulations pushed by environmentalists for decades have hamstrung the American mining industry, making the U.S. renewable energy needs increasingly dependent on foreign adversaries, experts told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Extensive permitting processes under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) make it extremely difficult to open mining projects in less than a decade, according to experts. The nation’s weakness in producing minerals required for technologies such as solar panels, electric vehicles and wind turbines has set it far behind the likes of China and Russia which have secured burgeoning green energy supply chains.

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Obama-Era Judge Slams the Brakes on Trump Order to Open Fed Lands to Coal Mining

by Tim Pearce   A federal judge in Montana delayed a Trump administration attempt to open up more federal lands to coal mining Friday, The New York Times reported. U.S. District Court Judge Brian Morris ruled that the Trump administration illegally overturned a moratorium placed on coal mining on federal lands by former President Barack Obama. Obama instituted the policy in 2016 as part of his administration’s environmental agenda to cut coal usage. Morris’s decision states that former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke did not consider the full environmental effects of overturning the coal mining ban and ordered the Department of the Interior (DOI) to redo and expand environmental studies on the matter. The DOI is looking into the court decision before taking further action, The NYT reported. “Federal Defendants’ decision not to initiate the [National Environmental Policy Act] process proves arbitrary and capricious,” Morris, who was nominated to the federal bench by Obama in 2013, wrote in his decision. The next push to overturn Obama’s moratorium on selling coal mining leases for federal land will fall to Interior Secretary David Bernhardt. Bernhardt took charge of the DOI as acting secretary after Zinke left the department in January. The Senate confirmed Bernhardt’s nomination on April 11. Trump…

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Democrats Want to Kill Any Chance of Ever Mining in Northern Arizona

by Tim Pearce   Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona is attempting to permanently block uranium mining near the Grand Canyon. Grijalva is expected to introduce the Grand Canyon Centennial Protection Act to Congress Tuesday on the Grand Canyon National Park’s 100-year anniversary. The bill would make a moratorium on new uranium mines permanent on more than a million acres of land outside the park’s borders. “Protecting the canyon is just, it’s overdue and it’s life-affirming,” Grijalva said while announcing the bill Saturday, The Arizona Republic reports. “The public wants us to do it, the economies of the region need it and the Grand Canyon’s future depends on it.” The legislation would allow active mines in the area to continue operating. Mining companies would be blocked from building any new mines. Grijalva, now chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, has pushed similar legislation before but without success. Other Arizona lawmakers and state officials slammed Grijalva’s proposal, saying it would cost jobs and economic growth without adding the benefits Grijalva claims. “Once again, Rep. Grijalva is pursuing his misguided quest to permanently lockup more than a million acres in Northern Arizona, harm education, kill jobs, infringe on private property rights…

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Coal Fund Raid Could Cost Ohioans Millions

In a rare display of unity, members of the coal lobby joined with environmental advocacy leaders to raise concerns following Gov. John Kasich’s (R-OH) decision to raid the state’s coal mining reclamation fund. In 2017, the state of Ohio was facing a heavy tax shortfall as a result of decreased tax revenues. In response, Kasich withdrew over $114 million dollars from 16 separate state agencies in order to fund more essential government functions. The Ohio coal mining reclamation fund was among these and lost more than $5 million. Currently, there are no plans or provisions in place to replace the funds. The fund is paid for by taxes collected from state coal mining companies, intended to reverse the damage done by mining over the past two centuries. For over 200 years, Ohio has been a major center of coal mining in America. Mining was essential to the development of Ohio’s economy. While surface mining can be done responsibly, the depleted land often requires significant investment to repair. Should this not occur, environmental damage can extend well past the intended areas. According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’s Division of Mineral Resources, as of 1972, the problems included: 1,300 miles of streams polluted by…

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One Dirty Secret Behind Green Energy – African Cobalt Mining

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by Tim Pearce   Cobalt mined under harsh conditions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a key component in items such as electric vehicles and iPhones sold around the world. Congolese freelance workers venture into dangerous mines to collect the valuable mineral with nothing more than shovels and picks. Many use their bare hands, and miners regularly suffer crippling injuries or death, The Wall Street Journal reported. The cobalt mined in Congo ends up all over the world in the form of lithium batteries and electronics. Pressure has mounted on the world’s largest companies to purge hand-mined cobalt from their supply chains since Amnesty International detailed working conditions in Congo in 2016. Many companies have pledged to cut support for such mines, but cleaning up a supply chain is often difficult and seldom foolproof because of the number of parties involved and the stranglehold Congo has on the market. Darton Commodities Ltd., a U.K.-based cobalt-trading firm, found that Congo is the source for roughly two-thirds of the world’s supply of cobalt, WSJ reported. “When we speak to companies along the battery value chain, this is one of the biggest issues they have,” Wood Mackenzie analyst Milan Thakore told WSJ. “How do we…

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