HR1501-119

What This Bill Does

The Protecting Domestic Mining Act adds mining and mineral processing to the statutory list of sectors eligible for the FAST Act's covered-project permitting framework. It also prohibits the Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council from finalizing, implementing, administering, or enforcing its September 22, 2023 proposed rule on the scope of mining projects eligible for that framework. The bill specifies sector eligibility rather than awarding a permit to a particular mine. Other covered-project conditions and the underlying environmental and land-use laws remain applicable. The reported version added mineral processing to the introduced bill's mining language; the engrossed version retains that change.

Who Benefits and How

Mining project developers gain statutory access to the covered-project category rather than relying solely on the Council's sector designation. Mineral-processing facility developers gain express inclusion in the same category under the revised text. Qualified applicants can seek the coordinated federal permitting process, which may lower delay and administrative uncertainty for investment and related construction work.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council staff must administer the broader statutory scope and are barred from implementing the named proposed rule. Federal permitting offices may need to coordinate additional mining and processing applications. Communities near proposed mines still participate under applicable laws, but lose the prospective limitation on covered mining projects that the barred rule would have supplied.

Key Provisions

• Adds mining to the FAST Act definition of covered-project sectors.
• Expands the reported provision to include mineral processing.
• Prohibits the Council from finalizing or carrying out its specifically identified 2023 mining-scope proposal.