December 15, 2010
Chairman Gordon Welcomes Department of Energy’s Rare Earths Strategy
(Washington, DC) – Today, the Department of Energy (DOE) released a report, Critical Materials Strategy, to address the challenge of ensuring access to rare earths materials.
House Committee on Science and Technology Chairman Bart Gordon (D-TN) offered the following statement:
“I applaud the Department's report and attention to this issue. DOE’s new strategy closely reflects the direction laid out in the legislation on rare earths my Committee passed through the House last September. Our bipartisan bill would provide ready-made authority for many elements of DOE's strategy, and would directly address the lack of authority for loan guarantees described in the new report. We should not lose sight of the report's comment that this is more than just a mining issue, and we must deal with the entire production, manufacturing and recycling chain. The Department's intent to expand collection of information on demand for these materials, and to seek such data from industry, is an important element - but I would urge the Department to take advantage of the extensive and respected information on supply already collected by the U.S. Geological Survey. Finally, in my last months in office, I've argued for greater international collaboration on issues like this, so I commend the Department for making this an important part of its effort going forward."
The Rare Earths and Critical Materials Revitalization Act of 2010, H.R. 6160, passed the House of Representatives with overwhelming bipartisan support on September 29th. It now awaits Senate Action.
For more information including on the Committee’s work on rare earths, please visit our website.
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