MEDIA PACKAGE: Select Committee on CCP Critical Mineral Policy Working Group Holds Meeting
WASHINGTON, D.C.- This afternoon, the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party's Critical Minerals Policy Working Group, led by Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA) and Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL), held its fifth meeting to address the human capital gaps in the U.S. critical minerals supply chains, focusing on workforce shortages and skills deficits. They explored opportunities to develop a skilled domestic workforce through education, training programs, and strategic partnerships with industry and academia and examined potential policy gaps associated with workforce development.
Members heard from experts including Dr. Barbara Arnold, Penn State University, Undergraduate Program Chair of Mining Engineering & Professor of Practice in Mining Engineering, Dr. Elizabeth Holley, Colorado School of Mines, Associate Professor of Mining Engineering, and Ms. Anna Fendley, United Steelworkers, Director of Regulatory and State Policy.
Watch highlights from the meeting below.
Photos for public broadcast and distribution are available HERE
Rep. Rob Wittman speaks on the importance of creating a strong American critical mineral workforce:
“Even though we haven’t expressed as much interest in mining in the United States in years past, I think that has to change.”
Click HERE for Rep. Wittman's opening remarks as prepared for delivery.
Rep. Kathy Castor on the U.S. mining workforce:
“More than half the domestic mining workforce will be retired or replaced by 2029.
That number stands in stark contrast to the total of just 327 degrees awarded in 2020 in mining and mineral engineering.”
Dr. Barbara Arnold, Penn State University, Undergraduate Program Chair of Mining Engineering & Professor of Practice in Mining Engineering:
“When Congress stopped funding the U.S. Bureau of Mines in 1996, we lost a centralized agency to coordinate US mineral activity.
Our reliance on foreign sources of minerals accelerated and the numbers of U.S. mining schools has decreased.”
Dr. Elizabeth Holley, Colorado School of Mines, Associate Professor of Mining Engineering:
“We need to invest in our talent pipeline to re-establish our mineral workforce as an essential component to our economic & security future.
In contrast to our number of graduates, China graduates about 3,000 mining engineers every year.”
Ms. Anna Fendley, United Steelworkers, Director of Regulatory and State Policy:
“Any national mining strategy has to be about how we are going to have the workers of all levels.”