Congressman Mark Amodei (R-NV) reintroduced the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act of 2013, along with 28 cosponsors, to streamline the
permitting process for mineral development.A nearly identical piece of legislation introduced by Amodei passed the House in the last session but it stalled in the Senate.
Amodei said it currently can take up to 15 years for agencies to issue permits to allow mineral mining work to begin. The bill will limit the total review process for issuing permits to 30 months unless signatories to the permitting timeline agree to an extension. It also sets a 90 day time limit to file a legal challenge to an energy project, requires the venue for actions challenging the mining project to the judicial district where the project is located, and limits any preliminary injunctions to halt mining projects to 60 days unless the court finds clear reason to extend the injunction. [Right, proposed Rosemont copper mine south of Tucson. Opponents have publicly explained their strategy of delaying the permitting process to make the effort too expensive or problematic to continue]
[taken from Rep. Amodei's news release]
The Rosemont copper project is a very large open pit copper mine just southeast of Tucson. The region relies on Groundwater for its existence and Rosemont not only threatens the regions groundwater, but is in an environmentally sensitive area known for wildlife and its natural beauty. Rosemont is a bad idea for Tucson and for the US. Limiting the review process by establishing a random time limit will not serve the American public, Technical reports and reviews need to be completed to properly analyze the impacts a project will have on a region
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