Yesterday, the Department of the Interior announced four proposed rules to revise Endangered Species Act regulations, reviving a suite of changes from the first Trump administration. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said, "These revisions end years of legal confusion and regulatory overreach, delivering certainty… while ensuring conservation efforts remain grounded in sound science and common sense."

And MP Materials has teamed up with the US Department of War to form a joint venture in Saudi Arabia to build a rare earths refinery. The Saudi JV builds on the multi-billion-dollar public-private partnership that MP and the Department of War announced in July to bolster America's rare earth supply chain and reduce its reliance on China.

On Capitol Hill today, the House Natural Resources Committee will vote to advance permitting reform—specifically the NMA-backed bipartisan Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development, or SPEED Act. The NMA's Rich Nolan testified in support of the legislation in early September.

And finally, the latest forecast for U.S. power demand is going up… way up. Grid Strategies now forecasts U.S. peak power demand jumping 166 GW in 2030. As the report notes, that's equivalent to adding 15 times the peak demand of New York City in just five years.

Minerals will be front and center today on Capitol Hill with the House Select Committee on China holding a hearing on China's Predatory Pricing, exploring How Beijing Manipulates Global Mineral Prices to Maintain its minerals dominance.

And China and minerals are also the focus in Brussels where U.S.-E.U. cooperation on the minerals challenge is giving way to competition. The Financial Times reports the European Union plans to set up a central authority to coordinate buying and stockpiling of critical minerals. An EU official says the union has become "collateral damage" in the U.S.-China dispute over rare earths and needs to begin stockpiling to keep the U.S. from securing supplies "under our noses."

And yesterday, the Department of Energy announced it finalized a $1 billion conditional loan commitment to Constellation Energy to support efforts to restart the Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant. The power generated will be sold to Microsoft to support data center development under a 20-year deal. The Trump administration is a strong proponent of nuclear power and has vowed to quadruple U.S. nuclear generation by 2050, reinforcing the need to ramp up domestic uranium production.

Finally, soaring power demand, including from data centers and the electrification of the economy, could contribute to energy supply shortfalls this winter during biting cold, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. warned on Tuesday in its latest winter reliability assessment.

Yesterday, the Trump EPA and the Army Corps proposed a narrower definition of the "waters of the U.S.". Trump administration officials said the proposal conforms with Sackett v. EPA, the 2023 Supreme Court ruling that asserted that only wetlands that directly touch a relatively permanent waterway – like a river or lake – fall under the scope of the Clean Water Act. The EPA believes the new definition will clarify decades of confusion over which wetlands and bodies of water require federal permits for construction projects.

And according to new analysis, electricity price inflation is having a real impact, with a surge in people falling behind paying their utility bills. Past due balances to utility companies jumped 9.7% annually to $789 between the April-June periods of 2024 and 2025. The increase has overlapped with a 12% jump in monthly energy bills during the same period.

And NMA president and CEO Rich Nolan argues in a new op-ed that Congress has a mandate to act on the nation's minerals challenges. He writes in Real Clear Energy, Congress can build on the Trump administration's momentum to reshore supply chains and defang China's mineral weapon with three achievable actions that can immediately help get shovels in the ground – with permitting reform, the Mining Regulatory Clarity Act and a fix for the 45X tax credit rounding out the list.

Both the House and Senate are back to work for a full week this week and there's one thing all seem to agree on: the need to make progress on permitting reform. During the shutdown, lawmakers continued to discuss legislation that could address longstanding permitting issues.

First up? This week there will be a markup of the "Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development – or Speed Act," which would set firmer deadlines within the NEPA process and reduce the judicial review timelines.

Moving to the administration, the Department of Energy Friday announced $355 million for two notices of funding opportunities issued by DOE's Office of Fossil Energy to expand domestic production of critical materials essential for advancing U.S. energy production, manufacturing, transportation and national defense. The first funding opportunity provides up to $275 million for American industrial facilities capable of producing minerals from existing industrial and coal byproducts. The second provides up to $80 million to establish Mine of the Future proving grounds for real-world testing of next-generation mining technologies.

Finally, looking abroad, the US hopes to have a rare earths deal with China done by Thanksgiving, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Recall that the US and China announced a framework agreement last month, with Washington agreeing not to impose 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese imports in turn for access to rare earths minerals and magnets.

Next Wednesday, the House Select Committee on China will hold a hearing on China's Predatory Pricing, exploring How the Chinese Communist Party Manipulates Global Mineral Prices to Maintain Its Global minerals Dominance. Among those testifying will be Jonathan Evans, Chief Executive Officer of Lithium Americas. We'll certainly be tuning in.

In industry news, Ivanhoe Electric has secured a $200 million bridge loan from a syndicate of banks to support its construction of its Santa Cruz project in Arizona. The company is working to begin construction in the first half of 2026 and then begin copper cathode production in late 2028.

And we close today remembering a hero. After days of search and rescue efforts, the body of mining foreman Steve Lipscomb was recovered yesterday. Lipscomb, who was also a Marine Corps veteran, became trapped Saturday, after his crew made contacted with an unknown water pocket, flooding the area where the team was working. He was last seen ensuring that every member of his crew made it out safely. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.

The longest government shutdown in history is now in the rear view mirror, Congress is back and the government is back in business. And while we're hoping that this means the Congress will return to addressing key priorities—permitting reform among them--the deal only funds the government until January 30, so we could be right back here in a little over two months.

A 50-page report from the bipartisan U.S. House Select Committee on China finds that China for decades has worked to manipulate minerals prices, using its control of the minerals markets as an economic weapon to expand its manufacturing sector and its geopolitical influence. The report makes a range of recommendations, including price controls and increased oversight of price reporting agencies.

And Reuters has an interesting piece on 6 states to watch as increasing natural gas prices drive a shift towards more coal use. Arkansas, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, South Carolina and Wisconsin - have roughly equal-generation shares from coal and gas within their electricity mixes, and are in the best position to use coal as a price buffer when gas prices are up. Last year, all 6 states sharply boosted their coal use while decreasing gas-fired generation.

It's an exciting day here in Washington. The House returns to DC for a vote that could, finally, end the government shutdown.

And it's another day, another coal plant that's needed to keep the lights on. Earlier this week, Xcel Energy joined the Colorado Energy Office to file a petition asking state utility regulators to extend the lifespan of the Comanche 2 coal power plant, which is currently scheduled to cease operations by Dec. 31. The coalition wants to keep the plant online through 2026.

Finally, looking abroad, the International Energy Agency warned in its annual World Energy Outlook that China's control of the minerals supply chain creates "vulnerabilities" for the rest of the world. In its press release, the IEA said, quote, "A single country is the dominant refiner for 19 out of 20 energy-related strategic minerals, with an average market share of around 70 percent. Geographic concentration in refining has increased for nearly all key energy minerals since 2020, and particularly for nickel and cobalt." It called for "stronger action by governments" to boost mineral supply.

When it comes to the government shutdown, there's a light at the end of the tunnel – let's hope it's not a train.

The Senate worked through the weekend to come up with a compromise deal that would guarantee federal workers back pay from the shutdown, and bring some who were laid off back to work, under a plan that would keep most agencies funded through January. Although it seems there will be enough votes to get this done, it's not a done deal yet. Senator Rand Paul is objecting to a provision in the Agriculture spending bill and the House will need to ratify whatever the Senate does.

In a sign things are looking rosier with US-China trade relations, China yesterday lifted a year-long ban on exports of gallium, germanium and antimony to the US. China's commerce ministry said it will pause its export ban on these minerals and related end-use items for about one year.

And top miner Barrick is reporting a record quarter. Barrick reported third-quarter revenue of $4.14 billion, and operating cash flow reaching $2.4 billion in the third quarter—that's an 82% increase compared to the same period last year. Free cash flow jumped to $1.5 billion, up 274% year-over-year, reflecting the company's improved operational performance.

Acknowledging the essential role mined materials play in national security, economic stability and supply chain resilience, yesterday the USGS announced that it was expanding its so-called list of Critical Minerals, adding minerals such as boron, copper, metallurgical coal, phosphate, silver and uranium. The move is a smart one by the administration, but here at the National Mining Association, we believe what is considered critical today might change tomorrow given both the rapid pace of innovation and changing global events.

Emphasizing just how tricky it is to wean ourselves off of our minerals dependence on China, and just how important government support is, MP Materials recorded a wider loss in the third quarter after it stopped selling to China as agreed in its equity deal with the U.S. government.

And China's Ministry of Commerce announced today that it had suspended for a year export controls that it issued last month. The controls lifted include those on the transfer out of China of rare earth processing equipment. The announcement notably, however, did not include any information on the general licenses for the export of critical minerals that the White House were said were part of the recent deal between China and the US.

The suspension of these rules is set to last until Nov. 10 next year.

As perhaps a sign of things to come with overseas producers, The Financial Times reports Vedanta Resources is shifting ownership of its Zambian copper operations into a U.S.‐based subsidiary, CopperTech Metals. A significant driver of the move: an effort to tap U.S. financing and benefit from Trump administration efforts to secure mineral supply chains.

And in Colorado, debate is heating up over the future of two units at the state's largest coal power plants -- Craig Unit 1 and Comanche Unit 2 – set to for retirement. Citing a grid reliability emergency, supporters of the two plants have petitioned the Department of Energy to issue emergency orders to keep the plants running. It's a development worth watching.

And as testament to the remarkable ingenuity and magic of mining, Resolution Copper has reached a major milestone with the completion of its multi-year rehabilitation and deepening of its historic No. 9 Shaft. The refurbished and deepened shaft now extends to a final depth of 6,898 feet underground, nearly five Empire State Buildings tall. It's a significant step in paving the way for production of one nation's most important new sources of copper and critical minerals.