U.S. Senator Steve Daines today sent a letter to the U.S. Department of the Treasury urging Secretary Yellen to include extraction costs in the final regulations for the Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit (45X) to ease pressures the mining industry is facing due to Russian interference. The letter comes after previous demands from the Senator went unanswered and in response to news that Montana’s Stillwater Mine was forced to lay off 700 employees due to the Biden-Harris administration’s decision to allow imports of critical minerals from Russia.
Daines wrote in the letter: “With the recent announcement that the nation’s only platinum and palladium producer, Stillwater mine in Montana, is laying off 700 employees, I write regarding input on the final regulations pertaining to the Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit (“45X”) for the domestic production of critical minerals. Unfortunately, in Treasury’s draft guidance, extraction costs are excluded from the credit. This very specific and unnecessary omission in the guidance comes at a cost for Montana’s and the nation’s mining jobs and must be corrected. As such, I request that Treasury issue guidance for the 45X credit to include extraction costs immediately.
“Earlier this year I submitted questions for the record for a Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing held on January 11th, asking for Treasury’s rationale in precluding the credit, further underscoring the matter. I have not received a response to my questions, nearly eight months later. This delay and lack of transparency is unacceptable. It is becoming more and more clear that President Biden and Vice-President Harris are doing everything in their power to discourage and even prohibit energy and mining production in the United States and Montana. The omission of extraction in the 45X credit is just the latest in a long line of absurd economic actions from this Administration. Mining plays the largest role in producing these critical minerals, so the exclusion of extraction costs is not only puzzling, it negates the purpose of the credit itself.”
Background:
In addition to today’s letter, Daines introduced legislation that would ban the import of critical minerals from Russia. Read the bill text HERE and download his video statement HERE.
Read the full letter to the Department of the Treasury HERE.