Leaders from the National Mining Association (NMA), the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) and other organizations partnered to advance legislation that will modernize the nation’s permitting processes.
During their legislative day in Washington focused on permitting reform, representatives from NMA and ARTBA joined members of Congress and leaders from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Data Center Coalition and other organizations to call for reform.
“The permitting status quo cannot continue,” says Rich Nolan, president and CEO of NMA. “It takes a stunning 29 years to bring a mine online in the U.S. – longer than all other countries but one. That’s absurd.
According to NMA, the U.S. House of Representatives closed 2025 with action to advance key pieces of permitting reform. The House passed the bipartisan Mining Regulatory Clarity Act, the Standardizing Permitting & Expediting Economic Development Act, and the Promoting Efficient Review for Modern Infrastructure Today Act – all of which make improvements to existing processes.
“Congress now has an opportunity [to] take a strategic leap forward to confront China’s weaponization of mineral and energy supply chains,” Nolan says. “We need the Senate to act. The resources, ingenuity and capital markets are all here. The opportunity before us is tremendous. Now is the moment to turn the page on decades of inaction and confront this crisis with the seriousness it demands.”
