Bipartisan bills introduced to develop national critical minerals strategy
Authored by: William Gleason
The development of critical minerals in the United States received legislative support in the form of a pair of bipartisan bills introduced on Sept. 13.
Sens. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced the bills that could spur federal government to develop a national strategy to advance U.S. production of the critical minerals needed to build a clean energy economy.
E&E Daily reported that the “National Critical Minerals Council Act” would establish a National Critical Minerals Council chaired by the vice president to coordinate a U.S. critical minerals strategy. That council would be led by a chief minerals adviser appointed by the president who would coordinate actions across federal agencies.
And the “Unearth Innovation Act” would establish a mining and mineral innovation program within the Department of Energy to drive research, development and commercialization of advanced mining, recycling and processing technologies.
The Bills were shared exclusively with Politco ahead of their introduction.
The introduction of the bills coincide with the publication of a Concept Paper “Why the U.S. Needs a National Materials and Minerals Council” by the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration (SME). That paper calls for the creation of the National Materials and Minerals Council (NMMC) within the Executive Office of the President’s National Economic Council.
E&E News reported that Hickenlooper announced the new legislative effort at the Colorado School of Mines on Sept. 13 where he called for a “Project Mercury for critical minerals,” a reference to the massive U.S. government effort that put a person in space more than a half-century ago.
“In less than five years Project Mercury mobilized more than 2 million people from major government agencies and the aerospace industry to combine their skills, initiative and experience into a single effort. … That’s exactly what we need for critical minerals,” Hickenlooper said. “We’re behind and need to rapidly catch up while building a foundation that will launch American dominance in critical minerals.”
In an interview with E&E News, Hickenlooper said that his push compliments an ongoing bipartisan effort from the leaders of a critical minerals working group on the House select China committee to develop a suite of policies to bolster the U.S. supply of critical minerals, which they plan to release this year.
As noted in the SME Concept paper, a key problem in the development of critical materials and minerals in the United States is the lack of coordination between multiple federal agencies and offices that each have some touch point in the process.
E&E News reports that the White House announced an American Battery Materials Initiative in 2022 to coordinate across agencies on sourcing critical minerals, but it took a year to choose its leader and the initiative has yet to announce any action. The head of that initiative is also housed in the Energy Department, not the White House.
Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), one of the leaders of the House select China committee’s critical minerals working group, told Politco in a recent interview that improving coordination between agencies is a priority in legislation the panel is developing.
“There are multiple agencies with multiple jurisdictions in this,” Wittman said. “Congress needs to act and consolidate all of those, because without there being a single place or responsibility, then things are going in a number of different directions without anybody really taking sole responsibility.”
