Mining industry leaders and some lawmakers, speaking this week at a hearing of the United States House Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee, argued that high taxes, burdensome regulations, and litigation are limiting the U.S.’s ability to access the critical materials needed for economic development and a clean energy future. The U.S., they said, needs to streamline the permitting process to ensure a domestic supply chain of rare earth elements. Hal Quinn, president of the National Mining Association, said, “Less than half of the mineral needs of U.S. manufacturing are met from domestically mined resources. And when secure and reliable mineral supply chains disappear from our shores so do the downstream industries, related jobs, innovation and technology that depend on them.” Rare earth elements are essential components of numerous advanced technologies, and rare earth value chain assets are virtually nonexistent in the U.S. Daniel McGroarty, president of the American Resources Policy Network, an advocacy group, said, “China is in full sprint, they see us standing at the starting line. They’re saying ‘We’re doing this, you’re talking about it.'” Industry critics and Republican lawmakers used the hearing to criticize what they view as the Obama administration’s regulatory heavy hand, but the critical elements debate is surfacing as an issue with significant bipartisan attention. The Subcommittee’s top Democrat, Representative Rush Holt (NJ), said, “It’s vital to American competitiveness that we too develop a long-term strategy,” but cautioned, “An oversimplified ‘mine, baby, mine’ mantra won’t create a domestic supply chain.” Some members of Congress are also concerned that defense systems, which rely on such materials, will be impacted, leading a number of lawmakers to push the U.S. Department of Defense to begin stockpiling rare earths and other critical materials.