Thank you, Chairman Weber.
Good morning. Today’s hearing on subsurface science and technology comes at an important moment. While the United States has long led in innovation, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using every tool at its disposal to not only surpass us but also to set the course for future innovation and standards in subsurface science and technology.
To maintain our lead, the U.S. must continue to unleash the power of our subsurface, from energy production to establishing a critical minerals supply chain and supporting cutting-edge science. Energy production and critical minerals are increasingly intertwined. To design and operate next-generation energy production, critical minerals will play a vital role, while mining and processing those minerals will require increased energy production. Simply put, these sectors rely on each other and must move hand in hand to allow the U.S. to lead the world in innovation.
Since his first term, President Trump has worked to address the CCP's monopoly over several rare earth elements and other critical minerals. In 2017, President Trump signed Executive Order 13817, the Federal Strategy to Ensure, Secure and Reliable Supplies of Critical Minerals, which designated 35 minerals as critical to the U.S. Furthermore, he signed five presidential determinations in 2019 that declared reliance on foreign nations for rare earth elements to be a national security threat.
In his second term, President Trump has continued to drive America to build a domestic supply chain for these minerals, working with the private sector to provide the necessary tools for these companies not only to get off the ground, but also to become successful businesses for decades to come.
Cultivating and discovering new ways to access domestic critical minerals, including rare earths, should be a bipartisan issue. If the U.S. continues to rely solely on a single source, we can look to the effects of Chinese export restrictions on Japan to see the immense ramifications that could await us. This can be prevented by establishing a domestic critical minerals industry. Rare earths are essential to the U.S. defense industry and a key reason we field the world's most advanced military. Losing access would put not only the American military but also the American public in an unsafe position.
Thankfully, the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation have been key allies in advancing innovation in critical minerals, including rare earths. Through research supported by DOE and NSF, it was found that coal ash—something we have plenty of from decades of burning coal—has the potential to be an economically viable source of rare earth elements.
While it is essential to strengthen the critical minerals supply chain to secure our economic future, we must also ensure that our power demands continue to be met. The news out of the enhanced geothermal space has been nothing short of remarkable and a reminder of what innovation in one area can lead to in another. Adding additional baseload energy sources to our grid right now is critical, and enhanced geothermal seems well-positioned to harness this resource and deliver it to the grid.
Including geothermal and critical minerals in the titles of DOE offices shows how important these two priorities are to President Trump and Secretary Wright. I look forward to discussing how these organizational changes have impacted the essential work across these sectors, and what Congress can do to support continued progress.
I want to thank our witnesses for their testimony today, and I am eager to get this conversation underway.
Thank you, Chairman Weber. I yield back the balance of my time.