On Tuesday of this week, the U.S. House Committee on Mineral Resources will be holding an oversight hearing on “Examining Consequences of America’s Growing Dependence on Foreign Minerals.”

Witnesses at the hearing, which will begin at 2pm EST, include:

Mr. Ronnie Favors, Administrator, U.S. Defense Logistics Agency, Strategic Materials, U.S. Department of Defense
Dr. Murray Hitzman, Associate Director for Energy and Minerals, United States Geological Survey
Dr. Richard Silberglitt, Senior Physical Scientist, Rand Corporation
Ms. Katie Sweeney, Senior VP, Legal Affairs and General Counsel, National Mining Association
and Ms. Carlotta Tilousi, Council Member, Havasupai Tribe, Sepia, Arizona

At a time when many companies are facing increasingly tough realities – one need to look no further than the auto industry’s recent pledge to uphold ethical and socially responsible standards in materials sourcing – the growing realization among policy makers that we are indeed facing serious challenges associated with our increasing over-reliance on foreign mineral resources is a welcome one.

We will follow the hearing in the hopes that it will provide impetus for efforts to promote a framework conducive to responsibly harnessing the United States’ vast mineral resource potential, and we’ll report back with some excerpts from witness testimony and additional commentary.

If you’d like to follow the hearing live, a link should be posted on the committee website on Tuesday.