HJR 9: Supporting the continued and increased exploration, extraction, processing, and production of rare earth elements in the state; and urging the United States Congress to support efforts of the state to develop rare earth elements in the state for the benefit of the economic and national security of the United States.
00 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 9 01 Supporting the continued and increased exploration, extraction, processing, and 02 production of rare earth elements in the state; and urging the United States Congress to 03 support efforts of the state to develop rare earth elements in the state for the benefit of 04 the economic and national security of the United States. 05 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 06 WHEREAS rare earth elements, those elements consisting of lanthanum through 07 lutetium on the periodic table, plus scandium and yttrium, possess unique chemical, electrical, 08 and physical properties that make them indispensable for a wide variety of emerging critical 09 technologies needed for defense, clean energy, and other consumer and industrial uses; and 10 WHEREAS dysprosium and terbium are among the scarcest, most valuable, and most 11 sought-after rare earth metals needed for green technology and military applications; and 12 WHEREAS, in the past, the United States was largely self-sufficient in rare earth 13 elements but today has become almost entirely dependent on foreign sources of yttrium, 14 niobium, tantalum, zirconium, and other rare earth elements; and 15 WHEREAS the value-added technology and skill to allow both the recovery of rare
01 earth elements from mineral forms in ore and the manufacture of finished products, including 02 powerful magnets, from rare earth elements has almost entirely migrated to China along with 03 the actual mining of rare earth element ores; and 04 WHEREAS China currently produces 95 percent of the world's rare earth elements 05 but reduced the export of rare earth elements by 54 percent from 2005 to 2010 and by nearly 06 50 percent from 2010 to 2011; and 07 WHEREAS a future in which manufacturing of high-tech military equipment takes 08 place only outside of the United States poses a risk to national security, and the manufacturing 09 of wind turbines, solar panels, advanced batteries, and geothermal steam turbines produced 10 only outside of the United States poses a risk to energy security; and 11 WHEREAS the development and expansion of extraction, processing, refining, and 12 production are needed to provide the United States with self-reliance in technologies that 13 depend on rare earth elements; and 14 WHEREAS mineral resources make up a major portion of the state's economic assets, 15 and the deposits discovered at Bokan Mountain on the southern end of Prince of Wales Island 16 are rich in the heavy rare earth elements of europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, 17 thulium, holmium, erbium, ytterbium, lutetium, and yttrium; and 18 WHEREAS the Bokan Mountain deposits are the only known deposits in the world 19 that have deep water access, accessible labor, and prospective power sources; and 20 WHEREAS the Tongass National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan 21 designates the Bokan Mountain area for mineral development, and the state's Prince of Wales 22 Island Area Plan classifies the Kendrick Bay area for mineral and forestry access and 23 development; and 24 WHEREAS economic opportunities on Prince of Wales Island and throughout the 25 state have significantly decreased; and 26 WHEREAS increased exploration for rare earth elements along with the 27 establishment of secondary processing and research facilities related to rare earth elements in 28 the state will create new career opportunities for Alaskans; and 29 WHEREAS development of rare earth element deposits in the state is critical to the 30 economic and military security of the state and the nation; 31 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature supports the continued and
01 increased exploration, extraction, processing, and production of rare earth elements in the 02 state; and be it 03 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges state agencies that 04 administer permits required for the development of the rare earth elements in the state to 05 expedite consideration and issuance of permits required for the development of rare earth 06 element deposits in the state; and be it 07 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the governor and the 08 director of the division of geological and geophysical surveys in the Department of Natural 09 Resources to work closely with the United States Geological Survey, the United States 10 Department of Commerce, and the United States Department of Defense to explore for and 11 identify deposits of rare earth elements in the state, develop an information database on rare 12 earth elements in the state, and promote the development of the rare earth elements extraction, 13 processing, and production industry in the state; and be it 14 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States 15 Congress to support the efforts of the state to develop rare earth elements in the state for the 16 benefit of the economic and national security of the United States. 17 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of 18 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and 19 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Ken Salazar, United States Secretary of the 20 Interior; the Honorable Leon E. Panetta, United States Secretary of Defense; the Honorable 21 John Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, 22 Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Harry Reid, Majority 23 Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader of the U.S. 24 Senate; the Honorable Ron Wyden, Chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee of 25 the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. 26 Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska 27 delegation in Congress; and all other members of the 113th United States Congress.