House bill seeks to secure energy critical elements
- PDF / 224,920 Bytes
- 2 Pages / 585 x 783 pts Page_size
- 77 Downloads / 182 Views
secure energy critical elements
T
he Securing Energy Critical Elements and American Jobs Act of 2015 (H.R. 2687) was introduced by US Representative Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) on June 8, 2015. Co-sponsored by a fellow Californian, Representative Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.), the bill seeks to authorize an energy critical elements (ECEs) program within the United States. Defined within the bill, an energy critical element is “any of a class of chemical elements that have a high risk of supply disruption and are critical to one or more new, energy-related technologies such that a shortage of such element would significantly inhibit large-scale deployment of technologies that produce, transmit, store, or conserve energy.” ECEs are a subset of critical materials, which have long been an area of concern for both the government and the materials community. Critical materials are used for a broad range of existing and emerging technologies, do not currently have viable substitutes, and are subject to price and availability fluctuations that are highly dependent on international political relationships. For the past several decades China has dominated production of ECEs,
which is a driving factor behind the recent congressional and executive attempts to develop a domestic supply chain, implement a recycling program, and identify possible substitute materials (See MRS Bulletin, March 2015). The joint Materials Research Society (MRS)/American Physical Society (APS) report Energy Critical Elements: Securing Materials for Emerging Technologies was published in 2011, and has been used in the policy arena to educate lawmakers on the challenges surrounding ECEs. According to Alan Hurd, Executive Advisor at Los Alamos National Laboratory and an MRS Past President, MRS has made a concerted effort to participate in physical science-related policymaking which “has paid off in tangible legislation, support for research funding in difficult times, and respect for MRS in science policy circles.” Indeed, many critical materials bills introduced over the last several sessions of Congress have incorporated information and recommendations both from interactions with MRS members and from the MRS/APS report. MRS facilitates annual congressional visits between members, legislators, and government agencies, which “led to a request for MRS support of the Securing Energy Critical Elements and American Jobs Act from Rep. Swalwell’s office,” says Damon Dozier, MRS Director of Government Affairs. The MRS Government Affairs Committee and executive leadership reviewed the bill to determine its possible impacts on the materials community and approved support for the bill. The Securing Energy Critical Elements and American Jobs Act authorizes a research, development, demonstration, and commercialization program within the Image of lithium-ion battery from Shutterstock. US Department of Energy (DOE) MRS BULLETIN
•
VOLUME 41 • FEBRUARY 2016
•
www.mrs.org/bulletin
91
NEWS & ANALYSIS SCIENCE POLICY Congressional bills H.R. 2687: https://www.congress.gov/
Data Loading...
