{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.heller.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ContentRecord_id=D8AE9896-F078-4C9F-B129-4E5027AC9B67", "In Case You Missed It: Following President Trumps Executive Order, Heller Joins Secretary Zinke As He Initiates National Survey of Critical Minerals", "2017-12-22", "2017", "2017-12", "Republican", "House", "NV", "Dean Heller", "H001041", "www.heller.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "FollowingPresident Trumps executive orderto break our nations dependence on foreign nations for critical minerals, U.S. Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) joined U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke as he signed asecretarialorderdirecting the first nationwide geological and topographical survey. For years, Heller has said that we need to reduce Americas reliance on foreign countries for minerals that are abundant in Nevada. He has pushed to cut the regulatory red tape that inhibits mineral exploration and mine development projects, and authoredlegislation, the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act, that would do just that.\r\nBelow you will find coverage from theLas Vegas Review Journaland theElko Daily Free Pressof Secretary Zinkes action to initiate the first-ever national survey of critical minerals.\r\nHeller joins Zinke as he initiates minerals survey\r\nElko Daily Free Press\r\nDecember 21, 2017\r\nhttp://bit.ly/2ziDx7a\r\nU.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., joined U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke as he signed a secretarial orderThursdaydirecting the first nationwide geological and topographical survey of the United States in modern history in order to ultimately reduce Americas reliance on foreign countries for critical minerals.\r\n\r\nThe order follows a U.S. Geological Survey report that found the United States depends on China to source 20 out of 23 critical minerals from foreign nations.\r\n\r\nHeller has authored legislation  the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act  that would allow the United States to more efficiently develop hard rock minerals by streamlining the permitting process for mineral exploration and mine development projects and reducing regulatory red tape.\r\n\r\nI applaud Secretary Zinke for initiating a review of the outdated, job-crushing policies that inhibit our ability to utilize our own mineral resources, said Heller. Nevada is one of the most mineral rich locations on earth, and hard rock mining contributes to thousands of jobs in our state. In order to harness our nations true mineral potential and end our reliance on foreign production, we need to streamline and update these policies, and thats why I authored legislation that would do just that. I thank Secretary Zinke for his leadership on this issue and his work to help allow Nevada and this country to enact a strategy to fully maximize our nations mineral potential.\r\nFeds aim to find deposits of critical minerals in Nevada, other states\r\nBy Gary Martin\r\nLas Vegas Review Journal\r\nDecember 21, 2017\r\nhttp://bit.ly/2BYcymC\r\nInterior Secretary Ryan Zinke launched a campaignThursdayto identify deposits of critical minerals in Nevada and other states to break dependence on foreign supplies of raw materials needed for military equipment and consumer goods like cellphones and computers.\r\nZinke said the campaign would focus on a mapping, much of it aerial, to find the minerals, increase geological data, and streamline the application process to expedite domestic mining and production.\r\nRight now, the United States is almost completely reliant on foreign adversaries and competitors for many of the minerals that are deemed critical for our national and economic security, Zinke said at a ceremony at the Department of Interior.\r\nZinke signed a directive to implement a presidential order to create a federal strategy to ensure and secure reliable sources of 23 critical minerals.\r\nThe directive signed by Zinke calls for the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Geological Survey to determine the cost to map the country to find the location of critical minerals. A report on the scope and cost of the project will be presented to Congress.\r\nHe also wants to streamline the application process to cut the time needed for mines to begin production. Heller said the application process takes up to seven to 10 years in the United States. In Australia and Canada, the process takes two years.\r\nHeller said mining is a $11 billion industry in Nevada, with 30,000 jobs with an average salary of $90,000 per year.\r\nThose are good-paying jobs, Heller said.\r\nBut the permitting process is broken, he said.\r\nWhat the secretary is saying is we need certainty in the mining industry, Heller said.\r\nHe said electric-carmaker Tesla chose to place itsGigafactory inNevada, not just because of a $1.2 billion tax incentive package, but because of the location of lithium mines that produce raw materials for the companyslithium-ion batteriesfor its cars.\r\nWere talking about economic development in my state, Heller said. Nevada is entrenched in mineral development.\r\nAttending the Zinke signing ceremony were representatives of Newmont Mining and Couer Mining Inc. of Nevada.\r\nRep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., the chairman of the House Natural Resources subcommittee on energy and minerals, and head of the Western Caucus, said Congress is currently reviewing changes in law to expedite production of minerals.\r\nRep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., said bipartisan measures have passed in previous years and could do so again.\r\nI am committed to encouraging environmentally sound development in the mining industry and believe Congress should have a say on change made to our nations mineral policies, Titus said.\r\nOn Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order instructing the Interior and Defense departments to develop a strategy to reduce the nations vulnerability to disruptions in the distribution of critical minerals.\r\nThe order was signed after Interior and the USGS released a report identifying 23 minerals needed for manufacturing of equipment used by the military and the production of batteries and computer chips.\r\nZinkes directiveon Thursdayorders the USGS and BLM to identify new sources of the critical minerals. It also orders those agencies to provide recommendations to streamline permitting, developing leases and increasing critical mineral discovery, production and domestic refining.\r\nHeller said he was thrilled with Zinkes directive because Nevada and other Western states are so critical to mineral production.\r\nWe produce 20 minerals that are essential to our everyday lives, including copper, lithium and aggregates, he said. We use those minerals to help us do things like build roads and electric cars.\r\nZinke said critical mineral deposits also are located in states in the middle of the country.\r\nHe said Canadian mapping has shown deposits in that country that are likely to extend into the United States, which has never conducted extensive research to identify the location of the resources.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.heller.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ContentRecord_id=D8AE9896-F078-4C9F-B129-4E5027AC9B67"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6861409638077021, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}