November 27th, 2020 
Background:
You and your colleagues at the Sierra Club have been asked to submit a report to the US. Senates Committee on Energy and Natural Resources who have been asked to spearhead a national task force on energy, minerals, and the federal lands. Your report to the Committee will consider a variety of issues, including national security (becoming energy self-sufficient and, if possible, self-sufficient for critical non-energy minerals), environmental sustainability (minimizing conventional air/water pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and nuclear waste, as well as minimizing the volume of water needed for energy generation and mining), and economic efficiency. In cases where legislation already exists, you have been asked to re-examine and refine the current laws and policies.
What policy will you recommend? Be sure to consider the life cycle of energy and minerals, including extraction of raw materials, generation into usable forms of energy (generally, electricity), transmission to place of use, and disposal of any waste products.
Question: The role of federal land (and oceans): What role should the federal lands (including offshore lands) play in the national energy (and mining) policy?
3 Scholarly Sources With APPLICABLE ENERGY LAW STATUTES CITED
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