Today, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) and Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee Chairman Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) sent a letter to Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke regarding the number and total acreage of mineral withdrawals, for both minerals and oil and gas.

“Last year, the Committee on Natural Resources (“Committee”) sent a letter to your office and Secretary Perdue addressing the negative impact of unwarranted, unilateral mineral withdrawals made in the final days of the previous Administration.  Some of these withdrawals remain in effect, such as the withdrawal area in Southwestern Oregon, which halts mineral entry in over 100,000 acres of public land for 20 years. Left in place, withdrawals such as these will harm local communities, job growth in the region, and even reduce funding for public education in the surrounding area. As Chairman Bishop noted in his letter, administrative mineral withdrawals remain a serious concern as they “[harm] our nation’s economic and strategic potential…

“Arbitrarily limiting access to minerals also poses security concerns. From nuclear control rods to advanced electronics, domestically produced metals and minerals provide invaluable contributions to the national security interests of the United States. The U.S. is now reliant on foreign sources for our supply of many of these materials – many of which are found within our borders – and this problem is only getting worse…

“To better understand the extent of the remaining mineral withdrawals, the Committee requests the Bureau of Land Management to produce an inventory of all administrative  withdrawals currently in effect, regarding both nonfuel mining and oil and natural gas development.”

Click here to read the full letter.