Critical minerals bill introduced in US Senate

  • PDF / 374,136 Bytes
  • 2 Pages / 585 x 783 pts Page_size
  • 100 Downloads / 237 Views

DOWNLOAD

REPORT


Critical minerals bill introduced in US Senate www.energy.senate.gov

T

he Critical Minerals Policy Act of 2013 (S. 1600) was introduced by a bipartisan group of US Senators on October 29, 2013. Critical materials are key components in a plethora of applications and industries from defense to clean energy to the medical sector to consumer electronics. While these materials often include rare-earth elements, they are considered critical not because they are scarce, but because for many applications there are not yet any viable substitutes. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), the Ranking Member of the US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, worked with Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Committee members Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.) to craft the bill and introduce the legislation. Fourteen other senators have also signed on as co-sponsors. At press time, a Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing was scheduled for January 28, 2014 to receive testimony on the Critical Minerals Policy Act of 2013. The bipartisan support for this bill shows that many congressional leaders understand and share the concerns expressed by scientists and engineers in industry, academia, and government about the need for a steady supply of critical minerals. Important steps have already been made toward developing substitutes and improving critical materials recycling through the Critical Materials Institute, a Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Innovation Hub established in January 2013. But substitutes and recycling alone will not meet the demands for critical minerals, and a reliable supply of these materials is essential to the continuing growth of many high-tech industries in the United States.

106

MRS BULLETIN



VOLUME 39 • FEBRUARY 2014



According to the US Geological Survey’s (USGS) report, “Mineral Commodity Summaries 2013,” the United States is currently highly dependent on other countries for its minerals supplies. In 2012, the United States was 100% dependent on non-US sources for 17 minerals, over 75% dependent for 16 more minerals, and over 50% dependent for an additional eight minerals. While not all of these minerals are considered critical, these dependency levels give rise to concerns about stable critical mineral supplies and have led to efforts to establish a more active domestic program. The Critical Minerals Policy Act of 2013 seeks to modernize the mineral policies in the United States and revitalize the domestic critical mineral supply chain. It directs the Secretary of the Interior to establish a method to determine which minerals are critical to the US economy and then to produce a list of these minerals. The National Academy of Sciences would be required to

www.mrs.org/bulletin

conduct an updated study concerning regulatory requirements. The bill directs the Secretary of Energy to conduct research and development (R&D) on nontraditional sources for rareearth elements and includes sections on a few specific elements including cobalt, lead, lithium, and thorium. Along with R&D on c

Data Loading...