WASHINGTON, July 28 – U.S. President Joe Biden’s nominees for Pentagon industrial policy and weapons acquisition positions will be blocked, Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan said on Thursday as he sought to clarify an Alaskan mining project.
“Until I get answers, I think you’re both qualified, until I get answers, I’m going to hold both of your nominations,” Sullivan said at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Sullivan was speaking at a hearing on the nominations of Radha Iyengar Plumb as deputy assistant secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment and Laura Taylor-Kale as assistant secretary of defense for industrial base policy.
Sullivan said he wants those responsible for the move by the U.S. Department of the Interior that has delayed the Ambler Mining District industrial access road project.
The Ambler mine project seeks to open up a remote area rich in copper, zinc, and lead and could yield deposits of rare earth metals used in weapons production.
Trilogy Metals Inc ( TMQ.TO ) is one of the mineral exploration companies in the region.