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Experts tell House panel Congress should pair permitting, demand and strategic stockpiles to secure critical-mineral supply chains
Summary
Witnesses at a House Natural Resources subcommittee hearing urged Congress to expand mapping and processing capacity, align demand-side policy and give "Project Vault" statutory backing to reduce U.S. reliance on China for critical minerals.
A House Natural Resources subcommittee hearing on critical minerals on April 22 drew experts who urged a coordinated federal strategy to link exploration, processing and manufacturing so the United States can reduce dependence on foreign suppliers.
Dr. Simon Jowett, Nevada state geologist, told the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations that the U.S. sits on “huge but unrealized potential” and recommended broader public geoscientific data to attract investment. “If you spend on geological mapping, you get back 14 to $70 for every dollar in terms of economic support,” Jowett said in his testimony.
The significance of that mapping, witnesses said, is that mines alone do not secure supply chains. Dr. Gracelyn Baskaran, director of the Critical Mineral Security Program at CSIS, argued that supply-side measures must be paired with policies that guarantee buyers for mined materials. “We funded the factory. We forgot the feedstock,” Baskaran said, citing gallium and germanium export controls as recent examples that disrupted U.S. manufacturing.
Baskaran and other witnesses urged Congress to give statutory authority to federal efforts to hold strategic materials — described in testimony as “Project Vault” — rather than rely solely on executive actions. "Project Vault deserves the same protection [as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve]," she said, recommending codification to ensure durability across administrations.
Faith Williams of the Project on Government Oversight and Abigail Hunter of the Center for Critical Mineral Strategy also pressed for supply-chain integration. Williams highlighted transparency and oversight needs around federal investments, while Hunter emphasized the long timelines required to develop mines and processing facilities: "Developing a new mine can take 10 to 15 years," she said, noting the urgency of beginning buildout well before crises materialize.
Witnesses urged a package of measures: expansion of Earth MRI-style public geoscientific mapping to lower exploration risk; incentives and financing to build domestic smelting and refining capacity; demand-side tools such as sourcing provisions for defense procurement and tax/financing to make midstream facilities economically viable; allied coordination to aggregate demand; and workforce development to train miners, geologists and processing technicians.
The panel’s recommendations were presented against statistics cited at the hearing, including a 2025 nonfuel mineral production valuation and repeated references to U.S. reliance on foreign processing, particularly in China.
The subcommittee did not take legislative action during the hearing; members said they will consider witness recommendations as they shape permitting and industrial policy proposals.
