HR3617-119

What This Bill Does

The Securing America's Critical Minerals Supply Act amends the Department of Energy Organization Act so DOE's mission includes ensuring an adequate and reliable supply of critical energy resources. It defines critical energy resources as energy resources essential to the U.S. energy sector and energy systems whose supply chains are vulnerable to disruption. The Secretary of Energy must consult with appropriate federal agencies, energy-sector representatives, states, and other stakeholders to conduct ongoing assessments of resource criticality, U.S. supply-chain vulnerability, domestic supply-chain diversity, monopolistic behavior, single points of failure, market manipulation, production capacity constraints, shortages of material or labor, federal regulations affecting domestic production or importation, import reliance, and adversarial nations' use of anticompetitive practices, price manipulation, or human-rights abuses in critical resource production. DOE must facilitate strategies to diversify supply sources, increase domestic production, separation, and processing, develop substitutes and alternatives, improve reuse and recycling technology, and report to House Energy and Commerce and Senate Energy and Natural Resources within two years.

Who Benefits and How

Domestic critical mineral producers, mineral separation facilities, critical-resource processors, battery manufacturers, grid equipment manufacturers, energy technology developers, electric utilities, recycling technology firms, state energy offices, House Energy Committee staff, and Senate Energy Committee staff benefit because the bill makes supply-chain resilience a DOE mission, creates recurring assessments of chokepoints and adversarial behavior, and pushes strategies for domestic production, processing, substitutes, recycling, and diversified supply.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Secretary of Energy, DOE supply-chain analysts, federal regulatory agencies, state energy agencies, energy-sector representatives asked for data, domestic producers subject to capacity assessments, importers relying on vulnerable sources, adversarial-country suppliers, and taxpayers bear burdens because the bill requires consultation, ongoing assessments, analysis of regulations and market behavior, strategy development, and a two-year congressional report on actions taken after those assessments.

Key Provisions

• Adds a critical energy resource definition to the Department of Energy Organization Act.
• Amends DOE's mission to require an adequate and reliable supply of critical energy resources essential to U.S. energy security.
• Requires DOE to assess domestic supply-chain vulnerability, diversity, capacity constraints, import reliance, regulations, and adversarial market behavior.
• Directs DOE to develop strategies for diversified supply, domestic production, separation, processing, substitutes, reuse, and recycling.
• Requires a two-year congressional report describing assessment status and any resulting regulations, guidance, or actions.