RESCUE Act of 2025
Summary
What This Bill Does
The RESCUE Act amends the FAST Act definition of covered projects. It adds projects related to extracting, recovering, or processing certain materials from acid mine drainage, mine tailings, coal, coal waste, coal processing waste, or pre- or post-combustion coal byproducts. Covered materials include locatable minerals under the Mining Law of 1872, including minerals on acquired federal lands, rare earth elements, and microfine carbon or carbon from coal. By making these projects eligible for the FAST Act permitting process, the bill can move eligible mine-waste recovery, rare-earth recovery, and coal-byproduct carbon projects into a coordinated federal review framework with the procedural benefits of FAST Act covered-project status.
Who Benefits and How
Rare earth recovery developers benefit from access to the FAST Act covered-project permitting process. Mine waste remediation firms benefit if projects using acid mine drainage or tailings qualify for coordinated review. Coal waste processing companies benefit from permitting eligibility for recovering minerals or carbon from coal byproducts. Critical mineral manufacturers benefit indirectly if recovery projects improve domestic supply of locatable minerals or rare earth elements.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Federal permitting agencies must treat qualifying recovery or processing projects as FAST Act covered projects. Environmental review staff must coordinate reviews for newly eligible mine-waste and coal-byproduct projects. Communities near mining waste sites may face increased project activity and associated environmental review questions. Project sponsors must still meet FAST Act and underlying environmental permit requirements.
Key Provisions
- Adds mine-waste and coal-byproduct recovery projects to the FAST Act covered project definition.
- Covers extraction, recovery, or processing from acid mine drainage, mine tailings, coal, coal waste, and coal byproducts.
- Includes locatable minerals, rare earth elements, microfine carbon, and carbon from coal.
- Expands coordinated federal permitting eligibility for critical mineral and carbon recovery projects.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Adds projects extracting, recovering, or processing locatable minerals, rare earth elements, microfine carbon, or carbon from acid mine drainage, mine tailings, coal, coal waste, coal processing waste, or coal combustion byproducts to the FAST Act covered project permitting process.
Key Policy Areas
Mining, Permitting, Critical Minerals
Primary Purpose
Adds projects extracting, recovering, or processing locatable minerals, rare earth elements, microfine carbon, or carbon from acid mine drainage, mine tailings, coal, coal waste, coal processing waste, or coal combustion byproducts to the FAST Act covered project permitting process.
Policy Domains
Resolution provisions
Identified Gains
- Rare earth recovery developers
- Mine waste remediation firms
- Coal waste processing companies
- Critical mineral manufacturers
Identified Costs
- Federal permitting agencies
- Environmental review staff
- Mining-adjacent communities
- Project sponsors
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeSubcommittee Hearings Held
Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.
Mr. Barr (for himself, Mr. Peters, Mr. Carter of Georgia, …
Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Coal waste processing companies, Rare earth recovery developers
Environmental review staff, Mine waste remediation firms
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology