In his testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on “the Near-Term Outlook for Energy and Commodities Markets” last week, ARPN Principal Daniel McGroarty argues that while in the long-run, the market is self-corrective, there are certain actions that should be taken while we wait for that long-run to arrive if the U.S. wants to regain its economic strength and manufacturing might.

McGroarty points to the risks associated with our growing – and largely self-inflicted – dependence on foreign-sourced minerals and metals which have “implications for the strength of the American economic recovery, for the revival of U.S. manufacturing might, and for the hoped-for dominance of U.S. ingenuity and enterprise in the advanced technology applications that we know are shaping the world of the 21s Century.”

He argues that if the United States continues down the current path of reducing exploration spending while prolonging the already onerous permitting process for mining projects, resource development, and with that associated manufacturing, will move elsewhere.

Outlining several helpful first steps to mitigate these risks, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-Alaska) American Mineral Security Act, he concludes:

“I don’t think there’s another nation in the world that can match American ingenuity.  We can pioneer the ideas behind wind and solar and so much else – but where will the materials that make these new energy sources real – where will they come from?

How we answer that question will determine to a large extent whether the U.S. can regain its manufacturing might…  Whether America will lead the alternative energy revolution…  And whether the U.S. will have the metals and minerals we need to provide the modern military technology we depend on.” 

Click here to read the full written testimony.