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Stauber Urges President Biden to Empower Minnesota’s Miners to Responsibly Develop Critical Minerals in Duluth Complex

March 4, 2021

Stauber’s letter comes one week after the President issued “America’s Supply Chains” Executive Order

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, Congressman Pete Stauber (MN-08) sent a letter to President Biden, requesting that he follow through on his recently issued "America's Supply Chains" Executive Order by empowering Minnesota's miners to safely extract the abundance of critical minerals located in Minnesota's Eighth Congressional District. Stauber's letter was signed by every Republican Member of the Minnesota delegation.

Of this letter, Congressman Stauber stated, "Former President Trump understood how important northern Minnesota is to our domestic supply chains. Now, I plan to hold President Biden accountable on his recent Executive Order. My hope is that this letter will educate the Biden Administration on the strategic importance of the Duluth Complex, as it contains one of the largest, untapped mineral deposits in the world.

Congressman Stauber followed, stating, "At present, the United States currently imports 78 percent of its cobalt from the Congo, a nation that utilizes child slave labor, while the Duluth Complex contains 88 percent of America's cobalt reserves. These statistics beg the following question: why are we relying on international child labor, when we can safely produce these minerals here in Minnesota under the best environmental and labor standards in the world?

Stauber concluded, stating, "If President Biden is truly serious about strengthening our nation's supply chains, he will disregard anti-jobs groups seeking to end mining in northern Minnesota and instead empower Minnesota's skilled workers to responsibly source these critical mineral necessary for everyday life, while also reducing American dependence on unreliable nations with poor labor and environmental standards."

Read Congressman Stauber's full letter, HERE.

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