Washington, DC- Congressman Steve King released the following statement today after the U.S. Department of Energy announced that a new research facility will be established at the Ames Laboratory at Iowa State University. The University will be awarded up to $120 million over the next five years to establish the Critical Materials Institute (CMI) at the Ames Lab. King sent a letter to Secretary Chu of the Department of Energy supporting the University’s application for the grant in August of 2012.
“Today I congratulate the dedicated and advanced team of researchers at Iowa State University for receiving this distinguished grant,” said King. “Having academia, four Department of Energy national laboratories and the private sector involved will help the new CMI to focus on developing better uses for the rare earth materials we have access to so that we can become less dependent on other sources of materials that can be disrupted by supply issues. The facility in Ames is already an excellent resource to our state and nation, and there is no doubt that this grant will help bring it up to an even higher level of excellence.”
