Mining: The Foundation of U.S. Manufacturing

A recent National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) Industry Week survey of manufacturing executives reveals that 88.5 percent of manufacturers are optimistic about their company’s outlook in 2015.

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Taking a look at manufacturing’s sales, investment and employment rates, NAM’s chief economist, Chad Moutray, finds that “the current model is very encouraging and suggests that manufacturing production should continue to accelerate, growing 3.0% over the next two quarters.”

Despite this positive outlook, Moutray takes a deeper look into business operations and finds several concerning challenges that affect manufacturers across the country. This is of no surprise, as these findings are underscored by  NMA’ s own survey nbsp;of manufacturing executives, which shows that a majority of respondents believe minerals and metals demand will only increase in the next 10 years  and manufacturers are seriously concerned about  their ability to access the minerals and metals they need when they need them due to an outdated and duplicative permitting process.

In fact, 95 percent of executives surveyed expressed concern about the length of the U.S. mine permitting process—which can take seven to 10 years—and its impact on the competiveness of the United States. And nearly 90 percent of leaders in the manufacturing industry also support streamlining the mine permitting process to less than three years—in line with Canada, Australia and other developed countries with similarly demanding environmental regulations—to strengthen access to the minerals and metals vital to their operations.

For a better, more sustainable and resilient U.S. economy, we must seek public policies that provide a streamlined permitting process. Both of these surveys are further evidence that Congress must act on this important issue in 2015.