House votes to streamline mineral mining approval

The House on Wednesday passed legislation designed to speed up the federal approval process for mineral mining and exploration, which they said is necessary to ensure the U.S. has domestic sources of strategic minerals.

Democrats said they opposed the bill because it would erode environmental protections, and because the bill includes a very broad definition of "strategic mineral."

They made two attempts at narrowing the scope of minerals that would be considered "strategic" under the bill, but the House rejected both. The House considered five amendments today, and only accepted one, from Republicans.

Results from today's amendments:

Marc Veasey (D-Texas), requiring the Secretary of the Interior to publish a list of strategic and critical minerals 60 days after its enactment.