One Solution to the Mancession: More Mining

Informative article about a topic that's underreported and misunderstood by modern Americans - the mining industry.

Rebekah Rast writes, "America could easily sustain itself with its vast wealth of minerals, energy sources and other materials — all that is required is a little digging.

Instead, leaders of this country would rather import these valuable resources. It’s ironic that at a time when our economy is suffering and nationwide unemployment rates continue to rise, the federal government would choose to import rather than extract those very resources itself.

Dr. Madan Singh, director of the Department of Mines and Mineral Resources (DMMR) in Arizona, says that 56 percent of the total land area in the U.S. is not open to mining. Why?

'Permits take a long time to get and the environmentalists are constantly fighting against them,' says Luke Popovich, spokesperson for the National Mining Association (NMA).

Popovich says it can take five to seven years to open a new mine, depending on the area of the mine and how many agencies are involved and how many lawsuits you have to face from green groups.

Carol Raulston, also a spokesperson for the NMA, says it’s not so much the push-back from environmental groups as it is the time it takes to get the proper permits. She adds that this not good for investment into these operations. 'You have lots of duplicate processes at federal, state and local levels,' Raulston says. 'One agency might want you to change traffic patterns, but then that might affect your water permit, and on top of that you have to hold public hearings. These all take a lot of time.' "

There are some employment opportunities - go here.