Sending back to committee the “Critical Mineral Dominance Act” (HR 4090)

The bill

Critical Mineral Dominance Act

Topic: Energy

What the bill does

This bill directs the Department of the Interior to address mineral supply chain vulnerabilities, including by accelerating and expanding mineral production on federal land (i.e., National Forest System land, public lands, and any land that may be leased for the exploration, development, or production of hardrock minerals). Interior must (1) identify priority mining projects on federal lands that can be immediately approved, and (2) take all necessary and appropriate steps to expedite those projects. Interior must also identify active, inactive, or proposed mining projects on federal land that have the potential to (1) increase production of hardrock minerals or their byproducts, (2) expand existing operations to include such byproducts, or (3) produce hardrock minerals from mine tailings or coal byproducts. Further, Interior must identify certain federal land with potential for hardrock mining. Interior must prioritize identifying land where a mining project (1) can most quickly be fully permitted and operational, and (2) would have the greatest potential effect on the robustness of the domestic mineral supply chain.

Source: Congressional Research Service summary

Bill on congress.gov(opens in a new tab)