American Agri-Women (AAW) applauds recent efforts in Congress to use all our resources for food and energy independence.
AAW President Heather Hampton+Knodle said, “Energy and food self-sufficiency equal national security. We applaud recent efforts by Congress to secure our energy supplies as well as remove bottlenecks in the supply chain through the Ocean Reform Shipping Act and other bills.”
She said, “Affordable, reliable energy and input supplies such as minerals are necessary for the production of food, fiber and renewable fuels.”
AAW supports bi-partisan efforts to reclassify potash, phosphate and uranium as critical minerals. One example is the Critical Mineral Classification Improvement Act of 2022, H.R. 8045, sponsored in the U.S. House by Rep. Pfluger (R-TX), Rep Cuellar (D-TX), Rep. Gonzalez (D-TX), and Rep. Newhouse (R-WA) focused on uranium which is used to power 20 percent of our nation’s homes, many medical applications and our U.S. naval fleet. The bill would require the U.S. Geological Survey to include uranium on its list of critical minerals.
AAW Energy Issue Lead Deb Whalen said, “American energy independence is diminished by removing this mineral from the critical mineral list and selling 20% of our Uranium to Russia. The United States imports virtually all of the uranium used in this country from our foreign adversaries, and with the conflicts overseas, the mineral supply chain has been stymied.”
Additional steps to become energy independent include streamlining permitting processes for which both U.S. Senate and House chambers have proposals. These bills, 1352 in the Senate and 2604 in the House, would create a timeframe for the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to expedite federal agencies environmental impact assessments of their proposed actions before enacting programs.
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