Mining has been one of the key industries in New Mexico for more than a century, as U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, a Democrat representing the state’s 3rd Congressional District, highlighted during a committee hearing this week. 

Leger Fernández spoke about visiting one of the mines near Silver City and also highlighted the state’s rich copper mining history. With mining being so critical to the state, Leger Fernández said she understands the need to speed up the permitting process.

Republicans have several proposals that they discussed on Thursday during a House Committee on Natural Resources hearing that they say will do just that. These proposals center around changing the National Environmental Policy Act, a key permitting law that ensures the environment is not harmed by projects such as mining or oil and gas extraction.

But Democrats say these proposals will remove important environmental protections, particularly for the most vulnerable communities.

Leger Fernández argued that Republicans have not supported measures that could speed up permitting, such as increasing funding to federal agencies to hire the staff needed to complete the required NEPA analyses.

“We need to speed up the permitting process and…you can’t do that without people,” she said.

Leger Fernández said people perform the reviews required by NEPA and that the Inflation Reduction Act, recognizing that fact, included $1 billion to help federal agencies build capacity and speed up permitting reviews.

“We did not get a whole lot of Republican support for that, but we know that it’s important to give those resources to be able to do the work that is needed,” she said.

Rep. Jared Huffman, D-California, who serves as the ranking member of the committee, said that $1 billion investment has made a difference. Since the Inflation Reduction Act passed, the amount of time it takes to complete an environmental impact statement—one type of NEPA analysis—has decreased by six months, he said.

Leger Fernández asked one of the panelists, John Beard Jr., president and executive director of the Port Arthur Community Action Network, what additional steps Congress can take to build capacity and better equip federal agencies to do the work that is needed on the permitting side.

“What the government can do is not to weaken NEPA, but to strengthen it, to make sure that you have the ability to address the cumulative impact and environmental impact, as well as the other impacts that normally are not taken into consideration,” Beard said.

He further said that not all delays are due to NEPA and that some of the delays projects experience are actually because of the companies behind the projects.

Leger Fernández spoke about the importance of making sure communities aren’t harmed by projects.

“As I pointed out, I represent a district that has mining in it, but it also has the legacy of mining where we did not pay attention to this,” she said.

Leger Fernández highlighted the approximately 500 abandoned uranium mines in and around the Navajo Nation that pose “grave environmental and health concerns.”

“I visited the communities that are impacted by those mines, and it is heartbreaking. It is just heartbreaking to look at those people who’ve been displaced from their land, who are suffering birth defects generation after generation,” she said. “Those kinds of harms flow when we do not apply good environmental oversight, when we do not apply and have community input into that.”

During the hearing, Republicans railed against initiatives like Justice40—a mandate under President Joe Biden requiring 40 percent of certain federal investment to go to historically disadvantaged communities—and held up a Bingo card after Democrats, particularly Huffman, used terms like environmental justice, Inflation Reduction Act, bedrock environmental law and climate crisis.

Republicans argue that NEPA has grown out of control and can slow down the permitting process and cripple development. Their proposals for addressing this include reducing the number and types of projects requiring NEPA analysis and minimizing the amount of analysis required in agency documents. 

“I consider myself an all of the above energy proponent, and one thing for sure is we need more energy of all kinds,” Chairman Bruce Westerman, R-Arkansas, said. Westerman brought the discussion draft to the committee.

But, he said, NEPA affects more than just energy development.

“It affects infrastructure, it affects forestry, it affects mining, which is critical to energy, and really anything with the federal nexus in spending,” he said.

Huffman said that the Republicans are “scapegoating environmental laws and trying to advance an extreme deregulation agenda for polluting industries.”

He said the Republican-led proposals discussed on Thursday are attempts to dismantle NEPA for the benefit of oil companies and other large polluters.
“They want impunity. They want to do what they want, when they want, how they want, no matter how it affects the environment, public health or disadvantaged communities,” he said. “They want to kill NEPA through the death of 1000 cuts, and they have had some success.”

Rep. Melanie Stansbury, a Democrat representing New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District, spoke about the importance of infrastructure and of NEPA.

“As a water resources professional, I spent my entire career working to make sure our communities have access to clean water and a sustainable future,” she said. “So I was expecting to come into this hearing this morning to talk about NEPA, to talk about the importance of making sure that our communities have a seat at the table as we’re developing infrastructure and decisions are being made on their behalf and with their consent.”