Mulvaney testifies for circular economy approach to critical minerals policy

Dustin Mulvaney testified before the House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Energy and Minerals on September 13 to advocate for a public policy framework that “brings together both the need for new responsible critical minerals development, but also that emphasizes circular economy approaches.”

He summarized his testimony on a X (Twitter) thread into nine key points that public policy on critical minerals should follow: 

1. “Promote more circular economy approaches to the critical minerals challenge, 
2. Develop robust take back and collection systems and recycling of electronics and electronic equipment
3. Recover more critical minerals from waste and increase resource efficiency, 
4. Advance materials science, input substitution, and alternatives to hard rock mining, 
5. Strengthen Tribal consultation, 
6. Reform the 1872 mining law,
7. Avoid unnecessary groundwater and ecological impacts, 
8. Strengthen environmental review, and
9. Provide community benefits.”

The full written testimony is available here, and a video of his verbal testimony (beginning at ~51:00) is on YouTube.