Securing America’s Critical Minerals Supply Act
The Securing America’s Critical Minerals Supply Act would amend the Department of Energy Organization Act to formally recognize and address “critical energy resources”—defined as energy resources essential to the United States’ energy sector and whose supply chains are vulnerable to disruption. The bill expands DOE’s responsibilities to assess and strengthen the security and reliability of these resources by examining supply chains, diversity of supply, domestic production capacity, and potential foreign or adversarial risks. It requires the Secretary of Energy, in coordination with other federal agencies, industry representatives, states, and stakeholders, to conduct ongoing assessments, develop strategies to diversify and boost domestic production and processing, promote substitutes and recycling, and report to Congress within two years on the status and actions taken.
Key Points
- 1Defines “critical energy resource” and ties it to the energy sector’s security and vulnerability of supply chains; expands DOE’s scope to focus on securing these resources.
- 2DOE, in consultation with other federal agencies, industry, and states, must conduct ongoing assessments of: resource criticality, supply chain vulnerability, domestic diversification, production capacity, regulatory impacts, import reliance, and adversarial exploitation in critical energy resource markets.
- 3Requires development of strategies to strengthen supply chains, including diversifying sources, increasing domestic production and processing, and promoting substitutes and recycling of critical energy resources.
- 4Requires development of technologies and approaches to reuse and recycle critical energy resources, aiming to reduce dependency on imports and enhance resilience.
- 5Mandates a report to Congress within two years detailing the status of assessments and any regulations, guidance, or actions taken as a result of those assessments.