Slow Pace of Mining, Federal Layoffs to Stymie Trump’s Order

Federal agencies will need fully-staffed teams to implement President Donald Trump’s order for the Interior Department and other agencies to expedite mining on federal lands, natural resources lawyers say.

But massive staffing cuts could get in the way of Trump’s demand to mine more minerals domestically, and it could take years for agencies and companies to mobilize and begin digging rock.

“Policy is personnel, so it’s important that you have teams that understand how to do these projects and move them forward,” said Hilary Tompkins, a partner at Hogan Lovells US LLP who served as Interior solicitor during the Obama administration.

Domestic mining for rare earth and other minerals was a priority for the Biden administration and has had bipartisan support in recent years. Critical minerals are needed to reduce US reliance on China and other countries for metals needed in electric vehicles, electronics, and other materials essential to the US economy and defense.

But Trump is pushing even harder to mine in the US. On Thursday, he signed an executive order invoking wartime powers under the Defense Production Act to expand domestic minerals production on federal lands nationwide.

Trump defined “mineral” as critical minerals considered essential to the US economy and national security, such as lithium, titanium, zinc, graphite and many others. But minerals also include those that aren’t considered critical, including gold and any others deemed important by his National Energy Dominance Council.

The order requires the Interior Department and other federal agencies to expedite pending mining permits, and by next week, identify all federal lands that have known mineral deposits and declare mining as the primary use of those lands. The order says its demands must comply with existing laws.

Ashley Burke, spokeswoman for the National Mining Association, declined to respond to questions about how quickly mining companies could mobilize to comply with the order, but said US mines are more environmentally responsible than in any other country, and they’ll soon be able to be developed more efficiently, too.

Tompkins said it’s essential for the Trump administration to conduct a widespread minerals mapping project before moving ahead with projects.

Trump on Jan. 20 ordered the Interior Department to accelerate geologic mapping across the country, focusing on locating undiscovered critical minerals.

But with each agency now having to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act after the Council on Environmental Quality tossed out its NEPA regulations, forging ahead with widespread mining will take time, Tompkins said.

“It’s not something you can do quickly, turn on a dime, but I do think there’s ways they can find efficiencies,” she said.

Free Ride

John Leshy, a University of California College of the Law professor who served as Interior solicitor in the Clinton administration, said he’s troubled by the order because it says nothing about making mining companies pay royalties for extracting their commodities from publicly-owned land.

The 1872 Mining Law lets companies mine federal lands without having to pay the federal government any fees or royalties, he said.

“US public land is the only land on the planet where the owner is not compensated for the minerals it owns,” Leshy said in an email.

Leshy said he worries companies operating mines producing non-critical minerals, such as gold, could be given the right to easily expand their mines on federal land at little or no cost.

“Trump’s order is an invitation to the oligarchs/plutocrats to plunder the public’s resources for nothing,” Leshy said.

The order may conflict with federal laws that require public lands to be managed for multiple uses, and could harm national monuments, which the Interior Department is reviewing for possible minerals production, said Ronni Flannery, senior staff attorney at the Wilderness Society, an environmental group.

“What we really need are true mining reforms and not measures like this executive order that make mining on our shared federal lands even more of a public land giveaway,” she said.