good morning the committee will come to order for someone to notice the committee on science technology needs to consider the following measures h r fifty eight sixty six the nuclear energy research and development act of two thousand and ten and h r sixty one sixty the rare earth and critical materials revitalization act of two thousand and ten also i want to welcome our interns today i think we have a lot of interns here welcome to see how sausage is made and i think you'll be pleased that we're doing it in a good way  we will now proceed with the markup today we will consider two important pieces of legislation that will help america recapture a technological lead in a wide range of industries critical to our economic our to our economy our national defense and the clean five to modernize and improve our federal nuclear energy r and d programs our nation's one hundred for commercial reactors today produce twenty percent of our electric tricity and seventy percent of our admission free energy if we are to increase our energy independence and mitigate the effects of climate change nuclear must continue to be a part of our nation's energy mix however capital costs continue to rise for construction of new plants and the question of how to manage the waste by products of nuclear vision remains h r fifty eight sixty six provides the programatic architecture needed a deal week to answer and saw these outstanding issues this bill is result of a truly bipartisan effort over the past six months and i would like to thank mr hall mr inglis dr baird as well as a committee staff of both majority and the minority for their continued good work as we we are now ninety five percent dependent on channel four rare earth rare earth making matters more urgent china has begun limiting production and the export of rare earths and required products using china earth be manufactured in china and largely for chinese consumption and the ones of you that have not had chance to to see the paper this morning i want to want to use the front page of the new york times business section the headline is despite this in this view china blocks rare earths exports to japan now let me just suggest that i suspect in the next few days  that congress is going to take action on some concerns about the chinese currency and with that action we could well see next week the headline could be in dispute janet blocks rare  earth minerals exports to the united states that would be devastating to our economy as well as to our national security this is clearly an untenable position for the us i believe it would be foolish to stake our national fance and economic security on china's goodwill or hope that it will choose to complete a compete in a fair and open global marketplace for rare earth the stakes are simply too high this is not the first time the committee has been concerned with competitive implications of materials such as where earth and one thousand nine hundred thirty years ago this committee established a national minerals and materials policy one core element in the legislation was the call to support for a vigorous and comprehensive and coordinated program for materials research and development unfortunately over successive administrations the effort to sustain the program fell apart now it's time to revise coordinated effort to level the global playing field in rare earth if dalkin first bill calls for increased research and development to help address the nation for earth shortage and reinvigorates the national policy for critical materials with that  thank you for your tenets and participation this morning and look forward to a productive markup and i now recognize mr hall to present his opening statement for holding the markup of h r fifty eight sixty six our nuclear research bill and twenty and the rare and critical materials revitalization act and as this is expected to be may be our last markup of the hundred eleventh congress and at my age i don't ever like to say this is our last vote or this is our last day here this is our last day in congress or anything but i want to take the opportunity to really thank you personally for your service to the committee and your very fair and bipartisan approach to working with us and the members of the committee over the years we all feel that way and we certainly wish you well the first consider authorizes a nuclear energy r and d program to the department of energy and we're all aware of the importance of nuclear energy to america's future it provides a safe reliable and cost competitive source of an idiot mate future increases in electricity demand and it's not people that posed a lot of the other types of energy that we have safe and we should have been other than having about twenty percent we'll have some work closer to fifty percent nuclear outgo didn't happen and there's a lot of other things these it might a man and sway to work harder on nuclear and supported it more and look more toward the proper energy thrust of the future i think we'd be better off  in the short term we need to license and bail more reactors using existing light water technology but over the longer term we need to dance to develop one last chance in a new reactor designs of extend the life of the existin reactor fleet and address the serious issue of managing waste in spent nuclear fuel that's a big order and continued research in developments necessary to overcome all of the challenges in this bill help us to get through comprehensive approach that authorizes existing r and d activities it daily with an emphasis on accelerating the advancement of venture licensing of small modular reactors to good bailout thank the majority for working with us throughout the summer to face is have best to address this concern with respect to potential national security ramifications understand that the department of defense will soon complete a study regarding its need for domestic rare earth supply capability a question  appropriately will be addressed by d o t and the armed services committee with respect to commercial supply needs it appears that increased demand and actions by channel have resulted in sharp price suggesting that a taxpayer subsidy for such activity may not be necessary the important questions remain unanswered because we have because we bypass regular order with this legislation and members have had only a brief opportunity to consider this issue in legislation i'm uncomfortable supporting passage of this mail i'm not positive as to have feel about the mail but i'm very understanding that we have a problem that we the chair and the ranking member for raising these two issues because i think too often here in washington and around this country we talk about lofty ideas things like clean air clean affordable energy we talk about electrification of of automobiles and more efficient use of what energy we have these two items you brought up are those essential things that are put on back burners and are not bothered with because they may be politically hot but they are the foundations that are essential to to lay if you're ever going to see things like clean affordable energy if you're going to see electrification of our fleets and especially these two is the fact that the nuclear power issue is one that has been a third political third rail but you're brave enough to address it i congratulate and thank you for the american people on that and the issue of rare earth is one of those details things that are essential if you think about this is a permanent magnet high efficiency electric motors that are driving prius and our troop carriers are essential for this so if you i believe in  clean electrified fleet then you've got to be brave enough to stand up on if you believe in a clean air and want to address climate change in the got to be brave enough to stand up for next generation nuclear and i appreciate the fact that mr chairman you've been brave enough to be able to do that and i hope that the committee already and c n n interior are brave enough to stand up and beef talk frankly about this because we're not going to see those great opportunities for the future if the committees and this congress are brave enough to do what you're doing today and i want to y everybody state mr chairman let me first say that every one statement will be included in the record at this time and dr bart is recognized mr chairman i would like to request a colleague lee to address concerns about section eight raised by constellation energy which serves many constituents in my district that same concern is expressed by a number of other utilities dr bartlett well why don't we wait  restart the bill and then i'll be happy to have a colloquy with you thank you just as just to try to keep in proper order here we will now consider h r fifty eight sixty six the nucular energy research development act of two thousand and ten i recognize myself for five minutes to describe the bill as i noted before the bill before you is a product of a bipartisan collaboration aimed at pursuing nuclear powered technologies that address concerned about waste as well as to reduce the cost of building new reactors and enjoys the support of many filter these vendors customers and trade associations including general electric westinghouse babcock and wilcox new scale the american chemical society the next generation of nuclear plant industry elements and the nuclear energy institute among the initiatives authored or authorized under the bill is a small modular reactor program that we provide the necessary funding to research develop and demonstrate s m r technologies that could bridge the gap that now exists between the nuclear industry and the private investment community this legislation will also promote the development of a well rounded and pragmatic approach to our nation's nuclear waste as the country continues to debate the way strategy it has become clear that the new technological solutions can exist if given the proper support and resources to develop the fuel cycle or indian issue in this bill provides the necessary direction and resources to support cutting edge research in this critical area  furthermore in addition to looking at advanced technologies h r fifty eight sixty six recognizes the important role our current fleet must play in addressing our mission free energy needs for years to come to that end we authorize a program that explore new ways to extend the life of reactors already supplying us electricity today i appreciate the ranking member and his staff work on this bill and i look forward to working with families we move forward i now recognize mr hall to present any remarks on the bill thank you mr chairman be very brave just to reiterate from opening remarks this is a good bail it was crafted in a bipartisan fashion it included extensive interaction with nuclear energy stakeholders and i think that's important no members on our side is going to report summarizing quantitative risk associated with the potential of severe accident arising from the use of civilian nuclear energy technology including reactor technology point are likely to be deployed as a negative this act this gives the impression that we don't now again share appreciate you sharing your concerns with the committee and i want to thank you for bringing this concern to the committee's attention as i have said before i am supportive of nuclear power as i believe it is a part of the solution to the challenges of energy independence and climate change the gentleman is correct that our one hundred four commercial reactors have run with strong records of safety and operating efficiency i share your concern that section eight might be misinterpreted in light of the fact that these concerns have been brought for recently recently i concur with your assessment that report language would be the most appropriate way to address them and i'm confident that staff from both sides will work together as they have throughout this process and address these concerns as we move forward to the floor have more than fifty year great track record a completely safe and economic production of nuclear energy and it's unfortunate that we might give the impression that somehow it's not safe because we're going to require all these regulations thank you for committing to address and report language nuclear power plants unless they are safe and a because of the safety issues so report about the safety of the existing and future plants could open the door for the development of nuclear power in california without such a report from the from the national level it's less likely that that hurdle would be overcome so i think the reports going to be useful exactly how it's going to be written in the tone and tenor i'll leave that to the chairman to work out thank you governor i don't think anybody on this certainly you are much more aware of the issue than i am and we look forward for your continued stewardship this is not just one bill and out of this committee we need to continue to have oversight as this goes forward so thank you they want us wish to be five minutes to explain a minute in addition to making clarifying informing changes my manager's amendment incorporates a number of our members concerned and has been worked out in advance with mr hall through this amendment mr lew and ensures that a range of geologic media or considered for storage options in the alternative in deep boreholes storage methods subsection mr lu han also ensures that the factors to be considered in the simple and straightforward ask the deal we need to conduct a report examining state requirements including moratoriums that delayed development of nuclear power in ways that the united states government can assist in overcoming these barriers currently problems the increase in nuclear is one that is that as a national concern many individuals and groups from the president of stanford university and has addressed this issue and raised concerns about these kind of obstructions i just like to say that  california is for nuclear reactors that for about thirteen percent of the stay electricity saving over two point six billion per year in natural gas and actually twenty two metric tons of greenhouse gases are avoided just by adding four more modern reactors we would allow the electric sector to reduce greenhouse emissions by forty percent now mr chairman of the committee you've got our say on that traditionally our clean air strategies were based on air base in impacts which were local or state impacts now that we're talking about the climate change issue it is now not just state by state it is national and global and when we start having one state following regulations  our state and and global impacts on that and just a good example is my own state which proud that prides itself on being environmentally sensitive has obstructed the construction of any new zero emission generating reactors when in fact  gone out of the state and purchase coal fired plants instead which to me really as somebody who's worked on clean air as an embarrassment for a state that has been traditional leader all i'm asking is we take a look at this we get the facts and i think it's essential especially under the latest climate change the interstate commerce issue that the federal government look at the obstructions that are being created by states that are that will block the implementation of our clean air strategies and this energy independence concept that up at a later time the next minute on the roster is a moment offered by the gentleman from new york mr taco are you ready to see what your amendment i have an chairman h r fifty eight sixty six currently focuses solely on the reactor side of nuclear power generation however the steam side presents numerous opportunities to make improvements that could increase turban and generator efficiencies leading to higher power outputs for the same steam flow i believe that it is important to address the fission see improvements on the steam side as well as the reactor side this amendment would allow that to happen adoption of this amendment would make h r fifty eight sixty six a comprehensive approach to improving nuclear power plant efficiency improvements in efficiency lead to higher electricity output for every one percent improvement in a dish and c the available energy is increased by two and a half percent that only will these improvements help improve efficiency but the new technologies that this amendment will help develop will result in creating jobs and technology expertise some of the areas that would be addressed by my amendment include cooling systems heat exchangers and pumps special coatings and advance power conversion systems better cooling systems and heat exchangers would enable heat to be transferred from the reactor side to the steam side more efficiently better pumps would allow for a lower loss of energy and circulating water and steam from the reactor side to the steam side and vice versa special coatings would improve the lifetime of components by making them more resistant to  could also aid in the rate of heat transfer leading to better heat exchanger performance finally advanced power conversion systems would help convert mechanical energy from the steam turbine into electrical energy more efficiently providing more electricity for the same steam flow in summary my amendment would make h r fifty eight sixty six a comprehensive approach to improving nuclear power plant efficiency i ask therefore my my colleagues to listen i don't think we need to oppose this amendment but i think that we need as little clarification of what we're really talking about here and i think what we're talking about with this is tweaking old technology and the whole idea of light water reactors and steam this is stuff that's been around for sixty years and it is not something that's go break new ground at all now it may well be worthwhile to find out if there are ways to tweak old technology i mean it's sometimes more cost effective to upgrade your old car rather than buy a new car that's based on an entirely new approach to providing the energy for your car so i would suggest however and let me ask to make sure this clear this amendment authorizes so that the funds can be used for this but doesn't mandate that they have to be used and there is no reason for us not to keep that within the range of considerations by the department of energy to see if that is indeed a worthwhile investment to find new ways of using basically light water reactors and using the steam from them however which we will hear later on and the amendments that are being offered today  there are new ways of producing nuclear energy that don't require steam that are much more and we're going to ever actually get to cement ourselves into doing something in the future should be based on new technologies like these  small modular reactors a gas cool reactors except for the reactors that will keep the waste from other reactors rather than the old process that left over that left a lot of problems after the energy was actually generated so i just wanted to make sure that in the record we are this amendment is just permitting the department of energy to do this rather than mandate let's talk oh is recognized i chairman this section deals with the necessity of how to handle nuclear fuels not only in their initial but in their secondary and perhaps third fourth the fifth stage it talks about recycling what to do with the with the spent fuel the general thrust of the total section is that the secretary may consider i'd much prefer that that would be the secretary shell but when i was over at the department of interior i always wanted to have the flexibility now that i'm here i think that's not so necessary nevertheless even with that this particular amendment goes to one part of this which is the full recycling program and provide some what more clear direction to the secretary about what full recycling is specifically making it clear that we're talking about generation four reactors  these are reactors that could ultimately sig never again will you reduce the amount of nuclear waste by perhaps ninety percent by recycling repeatedly through generation four reactors and in so doing i thank the gentleman and i appreciate being on this amendment i think this is a very very important concept where we think about the reactors now when we're really taking probably six percent of the nuclear energy and and using that and then throwing away really ninety ninety four percent of the nuclear energy and whether we're going to have to store it or whatever well we have we have these fast reactors that we really can conserve that you know nuclear is not and is not a substance that is without a limit and so the more that we can protect that because i think the only way that we're really going to solve our problems with energy is to will wrap up on this amendment the generation four reactors often called integral fast reactors are available they've been around for some thirty or forty years they do work we've never proceeded with them because i think it because of a mistake that's been made over the years that these reactors could lead to political ration of nuclear materials in fact there is a methodology called tribal processing that dramatically reactors could dramatically reduce the nuclear waste increase the potential power of the nuclear fuels and dramatically reduce the politicization concerns that's the direction this amendment pushes us as i said if i had my choice i'd make this entire section the secretary shall do but we're not there yet i'll continue to push for that mr chairman thank you and thank you for a very good amendment is a proper discussion on member mr chairman  recognized five minutes thank you very much we are let's just i want to make sure that we are defining what we're doing here and this does permit again this focus on generation four reactors there i am not shirton whether or not that designation includes some of the other type of innovations that are taking place in the nucular energy in the development field so there's not this contradiction because it just says they may but it doesn't mean it doesn't mean that they are not also going to be looking at the other ways of achieving the amendment and i'm like to ask my colleague whether or not that's that's the case this particular section goes to one kind of reactor the generation for the other three preceding sections really specifically deal with the alternative systems partial recycling through and and the other including modular so they're all included throughout the legislation this one speaks to one portion or one kind of the other section speak to the other types of reactors and the other systems of recycling so we're not the other sections by this section and by your amendment let me just let me know that in the past the  material and a story just out of which we've heard over and over again a very passionate debate in the congress on those issues well there are now technological solutions to those challenges and we  with newer technologies whether c high temperature gas cool reactor public base reactors and we now have a way to prevent a project a nuclear energy project from becoming something that i support the amendment but i just want to make sure for the record that there are many other ways rather than just specifically outline one general generation for means one system there is a broad another broad area that we broad covers virtually every kind of technology recycling technology and right as well as the various kinds of reactors with the exception i even fusion is involved in this i think in some small way so  has written a very comprehensive bill your concerns are fully addressed by the totality of the bill and not changed by this amendment that's correct well the amendment provides more direction with regard to this specific type have to submit a report to us to the congress comparing anything that comes out the blue ribbon commission to the yucca mountain alternative so when we marked up this bill it subcommittee offered an amendment encouraging the ministration to reconsider their hundred seven congress concluded the deal we would take title to waste and store it at yucca mountain a permanent geological repository over the past twenty seven years to nuclear industry and nuclear electricity rate payers have contributed seventeen billion dollars to the nuclear waste fund of that seventeen billion south carolinians have contributed one point to be ratepayers in nuclear power generators contributed the way it's funded into space in the department of energy would begin accepting and storing spent nuclear spent fuel waste starting in one thousand nine hundred eight now it's twelve years later in south carolina continues to store forty four thousand metric tons of waste in places that are not long term storage it's no surprise that this delay is costly the government has breached its contract with the nuclear industry exposing taxpayers to expensive lawsuits millions of americans continue to house nuclear waste in their communities assuming undue risk the delay is also discouraging investment in nuclear power slowing down the resurgence of this very exciting industry and a new way of making our way of making power for our future well we need is a clear and achievable plan for dealing with waste despite a long history of clear bipartisan support in the u s congress for long term storage of spent fuel at yucca mountain this is ministration has decided to reopen the question president obama proposes to use a blue ribbon commission on america's new nuclear future to find an alternative solution to managing nuclear waste this panel may well come up with some innovations in managing the nuclear waste these facts at the nation's invested a lot of time and resources in yucca mountain twenty three years ten billion dollars so the amendment offered today directed department of energy to compare the recommendations of the blue ridge the blue ribbon commission to yucca mountain if we abandon the solution we should first have all full accounting of what we are so i seen in terms of safety security cost technological expertise and site readiness so the concept again is simply to take the blue ribbon commission report and in order then to compare it compare any options they come up with to the yucca mountain option and that seems to make because we've invested in out these twenty seven twenty three years or so twenty three years and seventeen billion dollars in yucca so any alternatives should be compared to the investment we've already made and then we can decide whether we go forward we go forward with one of these other options but let's not just overlook the fact that it's twenty seven years and seventeen billion dollars mr chairman so i hope we have support for this this i think the original legislation that was passed by the congress some years ago was deficient perhaps because it into through a committee other than the science committee and i think that continues to be a problem the constant use of the word term disposal i think is a mistake we are not disposing of the material we are storing it and using the word disposal implies that somehow we're getting rid of it and it's not going to exist anymore now we might possibly do that by blasting and sending it to the sun which would probably be a pretty good job the only way to do it is to realize we are storing it we're not disposing of it and that we turn to monitored retrievable storage which should satisfy the critics who say that yucca mountain has not come out and is not you can have a much more viable system where you stored in canada canisters which is examined regularly if one should leak than they are transported transported up by robots in the the put back in very very low cost maintenance effort and i think would be far safer than anything that we've heard discussed before now it's a little extreme to  try to bring that concept in here at this point and wait for the serious they have jurisdictional problems but i think the waste and lack of good direction referred to is something that has to be addressed by the congress and if the other committee which claims jurisdiction is not willing to work with us on this i think then we have to fight hard to mean that it's being held properly there's no way to examine and and see whether or not it's leaking or whether of the problems are developing so i just want to offer that at this point afraid of addressing this problem because of the political ramifications i think there are ways of doing that doing it that are politically more acceptable so i'd appreciate comments from mr inglis and and others on this  really important i would add one more thing to a couple of comments is it waste or is it a valuable asset is bigger it's earlier said that about six percent or less the current energy in the nuclear fuel actually consumed leaving a significant potential energy source which has heretofore been considered to be a waste when that waste is consumed in a generation for a reactor perhaps first in  generation three reactor and then on into a generation four reactor you then turn that ninety to ninety six percent waste into an extraordinary asset that could provide energy for many many years perhaps several hundred years so we need to look at this in a different way and in order to get to that new way of looking at it you have to have some sort of reactor and reprocessing system that can actually consume that material which i would now call an asset and that's where this generation four comes into play coupled with generation three you can then move forward and the storage systems then become as dr earlier said a a temporary retrievable storage system because you want to get to the asset that's what this is all about the chairman is quite correct in the direction of the bill and pushing us off in that direction so i thank the chairman and for the discussion well as well the gentleman yield of course i want to thank you for coming because it fits in my comment and with my comment we are not disposing of it we're simply storing it and there are ways we can use it you've mentioned one way there are other ways we can extract additional energy out of the so called waste and you're quite right instead of talking about disposal we should future to burn it in the in these new reactors i don't know why we're so far behind but golly we've got to catch up here the rest the world is leading the charge and we're behind and you know thank you for this bill which encourages us to catch up thank you where we have a lab that will happily research of how to expand our nuclear energy potential as a nation help us to determine alternative uses of the resources that have in the past been call wasted with october's and mr mindy that these are resources that need to be utilized and how we recommend that we expand the utilization of the lab at savannah river site and others around this country to look into how we can utilize this material because it is extremely important is sick stream with valuable it's not just a resource to dump in the ground and just leave there so it is a really usable resource and we need to do everything we can in this committee as well as in congress and as well as in the government overall to try to expand these types of research and development projects highly encourage us to keep our eye on the ability to do that and  get into research so that we can deal with deliberation issues that we can deal with storage issues and as dr bartlett says make us a world leader again your father discussion mr hall is recognized  repository we simply can't have a revival of nuclear energy in this country if we don't find a way to safely dispose of it or maybe i think the doctor didn't like it or disposed of maybe we could use getting rid of maybe as as a government says i said that and i gleaned this from his suggestions that we might one day want to go back into that to some useful it might be useful to future generations for things that we don't own roadies coffee back say that again for him thank you governor for your statements because i think you're indicating that the maybe some day a future use for that and for the professor the members great to the seventh amendment on the roster is and then offered by the gentleman from oregon mr wu are you ready to proceed with your amendment the clerk will report the amendment and then that number zero five eight amendments h r five six six o unanimous consent to dispense with reading without objection so watered recognize the gentleman for five minutes to explain the amendment thank you very much mr chairman the american people justifiably want to see the most made of our existing unclassified nuclear energy research my management for their dress the secretary of energy to make this database available on the department's web site so that researchers can easily located available research facilities across the united states i hope that this database would also allow universities to make their facilities more widely available to outside researchers who may benefit from state of the art resources are to maintain that institutions nationwide i also believe that in creating a more centrally organize network of research facilities will benefit researchers and universities alike while ensuring that taxpayers receive maximum return on their investment in federally funded facilities the inspiration for this amendment came from one of the one of the major research universities in my home state of oregon oregon state university currently maintains a small research reactor for use in civilian nuclear research innovation is crucial to maintaining u s leadership in the twenty first century global economy ideas and idea driven industries hold the key to developing the technology that will make our nation's energy independence possible and i believe the apartment of energy can play an important role in helping to make future innovations in nuclear energy safe clean and affordable toward this and we all have a responsibility to do what we can to facilitate a us research community that is competitive collaborative and consumer oriented at the same time we must ensure that we are doing everything we can to maximize the use of our prior investments in nuclear r and d facilities and therefore i think it's crucial that we help make our nation's well class research resources more easily accessible to the university research community i ask my colleagues to join me chairman this amendment highlights further the need to address a back into the nuclear fuel cycle it clarifies it d o a will be responsible to disposal of the high level radioactive waste or spent fuel generated by the reactors would fit the definition of high level radioactive waste in the end b p a in the purpose of this amendment is to reinforce our maybe a message congressional intent that they away license and construct yucca mountain in the law president obama and secretary chu have attempted or attempting to permanently shutter yucca mountain and administrative border judges it's a nuclear regulatory regulatory commission called secretary  to closing it was not opposed to this amendment other than the fact that we need to be sure that it was germane to this bill also on her level i want to be this is a very important bill for our country as we've said on a number of occasions and so i think we want to be sure that we do it the right way and there's no reason to do something that would jeopardize the completion bill so with no miss dr ellis is recognized mr chairman on  just said for a variety of reasons this new section is going to become a lightning rod with some and may very well cause opposition that we would not otherwise have and i would be cautious here because the intent of the amendment as was suggested is to deal with yucca mountain i don't think we need to do that again it's already there the discussion and debate i don't know all the politics have been around here long enough that i can be pretty certain that the folks in that i don't want to have to have one more  appreciative of the work that you chairman baird breaking members hall english have put into developing this important bipartisan legislation is mr hall was just emphasizing how truly important this bill is i'd especially like to thank the chairman for his leadership with respect to small modular reactors my memory is short i'll keep my remarks similarly brief like many of you i'm concerned the united states no longer manufactures the vessels and equipment needed to build conventional nuclear reactors i'm concerned that westinghouse is no longer an american company is now part of sheba in that japan steel works has a monopoly on manufacturing steel containment vessels i'm excited about this bill because it us to take the lead on s m r we have the capability to manufacture everything needed for these reactors and u s companies are far ahead of their competitors my management will require that applicants who want to participate in department very g s s m r program explain how their proposal will increase domestic manufacturing activity exports employment i think this provision will help translate our investments in s m r as into and conforming changes and that the chairman take all necessary steps to bring the bill before the house for consideration about my time the question on the motion to report the bill favorably those in favor the motion will signify by saying deal thank you mr chairman i'm speaking today in support of my bipartisan bill the rare earth and critical materials revitalization act and if many of you are like me you probably didn't know a lot about rare earth materials until recently during a subcommittee hearing in this room when i did learn about them i realize that we must do something to address a growing gap between the united states and china in the use and development of these materials rare earth materials are used in defense industrial uses energy optics and electronics these materials go into our i pods speakers just drives batteries for electric cars products that are all being currently manufactured in china because we can't make them here china currently accounts for between ninety and ninety seven percent of the world's supply of rare earth materials general electric in my district can use these materials to make winter been helping to give us greater energy independence the national association of manufacturers has endorsed this bill because of the importance of these materials to american manufacturing these materials just don't though just going to let tronics and clean energy products but they're also using all sorts of critical military base technologies like precision guided weapons and night vision goggles so we're not just talking about our energy security here today but we're also talking about our national security just this summer china announced it would cut its exports for the second half of two thousand and ten by seventy two percent at the same time china has stated clearly that foreign firms who move their manufacturing capacity on to chinese soil will have no trouble picturing rare earth materials today we have an opportunity to began the long process of catching up with the chinese and beginning to make these goods in america again we simply cannot depend on china or any other country for such crucial material to our national security if china decides to stop selling those goods to us we need to have our own supply available i'm thankful to the chairman for the opportunity to bring this bill up and i urge all of my colleagues to support the bill thank you thank you m really haven't had a chance to do that there a lot of unresolved questions in fact that we didn't have time to undertake a full committee or subcommittee hearing is not blamed on anybody on this legislation the subcommittee markup through which to consider these questions is regrettable thank you really need i look forward to the debate and discussion now you know back or anyone else who wishes to be recognized on the bill if not i ask unanimous consent that the bill is considered as read and open to members at any point on the members proceed with the amendments in the order of the roster without objection so ordered the first member on the roster is a manager's amendment offered by the gentle lady from pennsylvania must all camp or are you ready to proceed with your amendment yes mr chairman i have a minute at the desk clerk will report the mr chairman there is three parts to the manager's amendment the first item removes the word technical from section one hundred one c two c which requires the secretary of energy to include in the program plan a description of the factors to be used when evaluating applications for loan guarantees use of the phrase technical criteria could be read to say that the d o a with pre determined very specific design requirements in project applications something the government is not necessarily well qualified to do removing technical leads the intent of the sub hair graph intact and the discretion to the secretary as to how detailed the criteria may be and the second part will make your language on the types of products projects eligible for loan guarantees consistent with the other loan guarantee authorisations and title seventeen of the energy policy act of two thousand and five with the amendment the secretary must evaluate loan guarantee applications against technologies and place at the time the application is being considered so that the funds go only to projects this significant advances in technology the changes recommended by my colleagues across the aisle and i'm happy to include here and the last section i would like to at this point yield to my friend from ohio  wilson to explain that portion of the recognized thank you thank you chairman gordon and congresswoman del kemper thank you for addressing your concern of mine in this manager's amendment pardon me by including the word accessibility in section two o ne an article in today's new york times highlights the fragile supply chain of rare earth materials in response to japan's detainment of of a fishing captain china has halted all exports of rare earth elements to japan american firms rely heavily on both japan and china to supply the magnets and other materials needed for cars and systems are vital to our national defense if japan no longer has access to rare earth materials minerals partly from china america would be entirely reliant on china for materials necessary to our country's security i'm pretty sure that this is a situation we don't want to get into even before this latest incident export quotas embargoes and policies limiting supplies only to firms willing to establish or manufacturing operations nearby leave open the possibility that there might be a large source of rare earth materials unavailable to firms in the united states  chairman and congressman woman del camper thank thank you for ensuring that this excess ability issue remains as important component in the future assessments of rare earth materials thank you i want to thank the gentleman r six one sixty offered by mr olson of texas flexibility going forward to the benefit of the american taxpayer the bill before us authorizes said the million dollars over five years for r and d related activities including the establishment of a new department of energy research and development information center the importance of such a center to the bill's overarching goal to stabilize the myth of supplies of rare earth materials is debatable as a general rule we should try to avoid statutory creation of such centers unless the need is clear and compelling centers are expensive typically costing five million dollars or more per year to implement and  established they have a tendency to this in perpetuity it's easier to kill a vampire than a federal new federal government program in response to requests for stakeholders comments on legislation  magnet marine materials association sorry us magnet materials associates expressed concern about the creation of such a set or specifically stated and i quote the us and them a question is whether the setter is appropriate information clearinghouse  quote we've also heard concerns that this responsibility already exists at the u s g s the bill also includes specific language requiring the senate to host annual conference is costing up to three hundred seventy five thousand dollars to quote promote information sharing and encourage new collaborative activities and quote with our growing debt the justification for congress to spend tax dollars on an information sharing conference is highly questionable the american people want us to stop the unnecessary growth of government and these concerns have prompted me to offer this amendment and i asked for it support service time thank you m olson we will support the bill and it but i would remember i would ask if you would work with us as we go to the floor if there's any fine tuning on it to make sure that it doesn't go beyond your intention ha few of the proposed r and d information center functions and leaves behind really greatly reduced information gathering function and they are in the information center was intended to gather domestic and international scientific materials pertaining to rare earth mature materials in the same location and it's just a stakeholders and actually using this information is also to be a location where researchers would gather to exchange information ideas whether at conferences or in the normal course of their work and collaborate on projects i think centralizing the information and providing a locus for live information exchange our marriage was intended to help resuscitate the u s research activity in the field of rare earths but as i said i'm glad to hear that the gentleman is willing to work on language and i hope we can find some way to assure that this happens center to conduct this activity is not as clear as it could be specially since the u s geological service has responsibility for collecting similar data own research supply issues discretion to support and from ation sharing activities as necessary as necessary determined i guess by the geological service are just bad should you know you know but my time thank you mr hall it's a the point of this bill is to focus america's attention and resources on the rare earth issue which is profound importance as been pointed out by the author there's nothing in this bill that provides direction support money or opportunity for the u s geological survey to further engage in this process and to play its role as correctly stated a moment ago u s geological survey is the place in the federal government where the focus on these materials or the geology and materials could be found if we're going to strike this section for the reasons given we really ought to provide some direction in the legislation to direct the u s g s to get on with the task and to focus their attention to these rare earth issues and it's not in the bill presently i'd ask the author to consider that as she moves the bill along for the purposes of providing directions to the u s geological survey to engage with the department and to carry out its role and specifically on this function thank you  the importance of collaborating in outreaching do you start early black colleges and universities and other minority serving institutions and this i'm not submitting as an affront i'm doing this because we have such a lack of diversity in a national science enterprise and although the majority of african americans in college do not a teenage b c use age we see use graduate the majority of african americans with doctorates science technology engineering and math and these institutions have gotten it right for some reason i'd like to see outreach to the universe we should utilize every man in this great nation and do what we can as legislat to encourage all americans to enter these fields in order for our country to maintain its leadership in innovation we must a dentist and break down the barriers that are holding our country back from maintaining our diverse workforce and twenty three and we can no longer afford to ignore the glaring statistics showing women and minorities are being left behind and it's damn visible and i will continue to address what i know is a serious problem working together i that could help develop domestic research as we desperately need if this bill were to move forward it also should be considered the natural resources committee which has jurisdiction over the mounted operations that would be eligible for loans under this bill as chairman just mentioned a minute ago so i can only hope this committee is in communicate with natural resources and discussing legislation to assist the streamlining of mining permits and identification of public lands which are ripe for mental developments for this bill we are considered a also appears to be duplicative of the efforts currently being developed by the u s geological survey underscoring the importance of including the natural resources committee in any discussions impacting us money operations now back to mom in this amendment strikes section one hundred one a six which requires the secretary of the uli to quote coordinate activities of mutual interest and avoid duplication of effort unquote with the european commission while it makes sense to consult with allies on areas of mutual strategic interest the underlying bill language is focused only on europe and appears to go beyond traditional interactions the term activities is undefined and therefore could include anything from trade policy to tax and regulatory issues further why should we only coordinate with europe most non chinese rare earth mining efforts are concentrated in australia and canada two of our best allies they certainly should be excluded from any international consultations striking th action will not permit the secretary from seeking advice with any country a federal agency that secretary believes she would be helpful in regarding rare earth mining processing production or development issues lastly avoiding duplications effort should never be a foreign policy objective the us is of course a sovereign nation with our own interest we should never avoid pursuing an activity out of concern for duplications of effort unquote unquote with another country are so committed to support this amendment to allow the secretary the flexibility to discuss rarest mining that i agree with you this amendment is too narrow we should have for the collaboration i think it is to the benefit of all countries that aren't the monopoly here to get as much information on the table so that we can move forward however i would hope will oppose this particular man because it would it would take out this particular collaboration but would be happy to work with you as we go to the floor to expand it to my support for dr brown's amendment thank you raises some very important concerns with the bill's international collaboration requirement particularly given that ultimate goal of this bill is to address rare earth supply in the united states  further it's not clear why a collaboration with the european commission or to be singled out over any other country or voiding quote duplication of effort unquote internationally is an appropriate go i think dr brand for an amendment mr carnahan mr peters mr lamar smith mr adrian smith mr adrian smith votes mr brown mr brown vote side mr olson mr olson votes i dispense with the reading that objection so ordered recognize gentlemen for five minutes to explain in minute discussion on the previous memet highlights the necessity for the reality actually of international  cooperation and agreements and discussions with regard to earth part of that discussion will undoubtably take us to the conflict zones of the world specifically africa i think the members of the committee oh well aware of what are known as blood diamonds the next blood diamond issue is already in existence which is the rare earth issues often rare earth mining and extraction in africa  is in fact similar to the blood diamond issue where it is used to fund conflicts and horrendous activities by warring parties but this amendment was intended to get to that issue because of the concerns that many members of the committee have about the underlying issue of conflict zones and in this case where things fueling those  conflicts we put forth this amendment however there are members of this committee and others that are concerned about the relationship of the united states to international law and other international treaties and organizations so mr roboto and i while remain very concerned about the issue underlined that is of rare earths fueling conflicts we don't want to get into a concern on the international relations issues thank you very much and let me just thank my colleague for the cooperation that we've had on this we both share some very deep concerns about some of the well you might say collateral damage of america's efforts to procure those resources that we need to maintain our standard of living in this country the united states let me point out that we also have a problem as the chairman mentioned in his opening remarks where we have this new york times article in dispute china blocks its exports to japan where you have the world's worst human rights abuse are china threatening that one the one shining light of democracy in asia japan threatening to do them great harm because they are now dependent japan has this type of dependency as we do on china we should not be dependent especially dependent on countries that are utilizing their power in their country to suppress their own population this amendment make sure that at the very least whether it's con communist chinese or whether it's in africa that we do not procure rare earth minerals in a way that it's that it undermines human rights standards throughout the world in our own human rights commitment here in the united states  gentleman and i will be working on specific language i am concerned about making sure that we do not subject american citizens to and i consider to be somewhat questionable  ty you know accumulations that we have in the name of international law and just to be clear about that to my char and to my friend my colleague the reason why i'm very concerned about the internet saying international is some of these very same countries that are human rights violators if we set up a system of human of of international law the tribunals within decades could well be controlled by countries that are human rights abusers and we don't need that we need to do is make sure that our own country maintains its standards and i am while be working with  gentlemen to come up with a specific language that will meet the objective of making sure that we are not curing these rare earth minerals in a way that it undermines the respect for human rights and the standards that we hold dear and so i would thank my colleague and join him and we will be working out that language mr chairman i thank you for the opportunity to raise this issue and i thank my colleague from issues that make it difficult for this specific language to proceed i will therefore withdraw the amendment and work with the author and the committee and others to make it clear that and very dangerous and unfortunate parts of the world there are ways that can be done we're working on some language you simply don't have it together yet i would also just i'm sure the committee members are aware that there are international materials from those places where it does not create further conflict and acquire materials in a way that does not create further conflict we'll work on it it's an important issue to all of us and therefore i was drawn to the amendment baseline of two thousand and seven and we did spend our congress now we realize that the budget deficits are now running at a rate that is becoming that  i say dangerous for our society i don't see how we can and i don't know anyone who thinks that we can sustain the level of deficit spending that at the rates that we're doing in the federal government is so weak that when you have face that challenge of bringing down this massive level of deficit spending the federal government at the same time recognizing that we have increased the budget by billions of dollars over the baseline of two thousand the department of energy also we realize that every research project especially the department of energy should not be considered something that is ongoing no matter what  i mean at some point research projects should actually be the door should be closed and new new projects should be looked at and so this is i mean after hopefully successful research but even if it's unsuccessful at some point that lie is going to be drawn say we've spent enough money on this we've got to in their order to balance the budget or in order to spend money on other things we've got to prioritize  spending and and shut down certain areas and build up other areas that's what this amendment does it insists that we start prioritizing and that the people at the department of energy prioritize and make sure that this is within the current budget levels thank you very much thank you mr obama or i will recommend that this minute be accepted not because this is not very important research that should be done but i concur with you that there are i think there are out that we are going to have about five amendments around quarter after and so but now we move on to the ninth amendment on the roster mr barker do you have any additional name and i will be  withdrawing the next to them is that i was planning to based on the fact that they are no longer necessary due to the passage of the first amendment so we then will move to the ninth amendment on the roster which is a moment offered by the gentleman from california earth materials people receiving loan guarantees based on trying to find an answer to this challenge that we we make sure that that money is going to be used for development of domestic processing capabilities in the united states rather than to financing methods that will actually be used by foreign corporations and  or by entities that are now processing materials that are coming from overseas i mean what what are we trying to do here why we why we concerned about these materials in the first place because it between mr robot and myself is going to lead to the destruction of both of our reputation however even even in politics astronomy prevails and occasionally the sun the moon and the earth line up and you have an eclipse or an ellipse as the case might be in this case policies are lining up we're very concerned on our side about the american domestic production manufacturing and where it is headed in this case this amendment is very much in line with what we've been talking about and that is make it in america and therefore i find this amendment pursue no loan guarantee with the department of energy specifically the concern is that raw materials could be mined and then sent over to china for a process which would undermine the goal of the program to address u s supply concerns and in the process sure that the material that's coming to our domestic consumers rather get export it correct i get that as i read it help me understand something it sounds like we may be saying in this amendment that it's not just about exploiting the needed material per se but exploiting the technologies that are used to separate the material in other words let's suppose the u s and i may be reading it wrong but let's suppose a u s manufacturer or engineer develops a technology for separating material and they want to sell that technology to other countries are we saying they can't sell the technology is that an unintended i may be reading it wrong that is not in the bill ok i would suggest dr baird that this may be one more area that we will might need further collaboration as we move forward toward the floor here unless ok i i really want to look at that and i'm not going to oppose it at this point but i want to be very careful about that because i don't want to inadvertently penalize a us manufacturer because it says unless the project's proponent guarantees or provides to the sector and the surance the loan guarantee should be used to support the separation recovery preparation or manufacturing of rare earth materials in the united states for customers within the united states if we if we export the technology to manufacture something that's actually a net job gains so i just i would urge you to work on that i won't call for opposing it now but i think we want to be very careful that we don't hamstring u s manufacturers or engineers for exploiting the technology for separation if you're really trying to protect the material per se and adequacy here and i'm not sure at least we want to clarify that and some coming out of the u s taxpayers to provide loan guarantees except for a are used for the benefit of the american people that doesn't necessarily preclude that a company that receives its loan will also not be able to do  other things if i made i think the gentleman a gentleman may want to in some way clarify that the issue is making sure that adequate supply of the material not necessarily limit the export of the technologies that extract or purify the material may and maybe the gentleman want to do that but i'm not sure that's going to project well we would certainly be really and i can talk for myself i'm sure my colleague can speak for himself on this but that would be acceptable and report language to clarify not interfere with or crowd out private sector activity specifically it limits funding for rare earth projects to those categories that the private sector is not currently undertaking or likely to undertake doos excessive technical or financial uncertainty given recent reports scribing the expected future increase in demand for rare earth mining and processing china's export restrictions triggering rare earth price increases and aggressive movement of private capital into rare earth operations why are we looking to subsidize activities already being pursued in the private marketplace for example a recent rare earth investor newsletter describing the quote largest rare earth man in the world discovered in a breath in the brasco unquote stated that quote a source close to the venture capital community said that quote capital would not be a problem unquote severally australian mind about the linus recently raised four hundred fifty million dollars to recover a rare earth materials and early stage exploration ventures underway throughout canada in the united states on august third two thousand and ten moloko are based in greenwood colorado raised three hundred eighty million dollars through and initial public offering to support the reopening of its mountain pas california rare earth mining operation its stock price has nearly doubled since the i p o and its current market capitalization is now over one point eight billion dollars and international capital marketplace appears willing to invest in rare earth operations unless a department of defense asserts that it has a strategic need to ensure they will supply rare earth materials taxpayers should not subsidize these private market activities are as a comedian support this amendment to prevent interference of taxpayer funded subsidies with the private capital marketplace for rare earth operations brown thank you for your consistency i'm sincerely i really think this is a different situation here this is a national security issue we're dealing with a monopoly we saw what's already happened here in terms then jack about again this is this really is i think a national security issue this is this is not a free market situation this we're dealing with a again with a virtual monopoly and i think that we federal taxpayer funds when the private sector is doing it i certainly don't support the monopoly and it's not there has been a monopoly and certainly i appreciate the importance of us making sure that  china is not the only source of rare earths but we have a big resource in in nebraska mr smith states and the thing is why should we be just pouring money into the prize and giving grants to the private sector when the marketplace right now will allow those  private resources to come to play in the market and we should be spending taxpayers funds so that's the reason for the mammoth and and to the extent that a potential supply gap does raise national hearings on this issue in the next couple weeks and so i i courage that this amendment is passed just protect taxpayers funds and not to expend it all on companies going to that are going to expand the funds themselves to the private sector you bet thank you once again i'll point out these are only guarantees and again only guarantees if necessary to bring the private sector in there's no further discussion then the vote is on the memo all in favor them  so watered i recognize a gentle lady for five minutes to explain the amendment thank you mr chairman my amendment moves the loan guarantee timeline of three years to be what was to be consistent with the five year authorization as i understand w much less twenty eighteen so with my men will have the oversight ability to make adjustments in a timely fashion and with better understanding of the industry needs since we were not able to discover those needs to the normal committee process just can't resist saying that i just want to celebrate the passage of this law for those of you who remember the group rare earth that would make a lot of sense but obviously no one else remembers but for those you with a good sense of humor it might not i think i was sitting behind port h r sixty one sixty as amended to the house with a recommendation that the bill do pass furthermore i move that staff be instructed to repair the legislative report and make necessary technical and conforming changes that the chairman take all necessary steps to bring the bill before the house for consideration the questions on the motion to report the bill favorably to those in favor of the motion will signify by saying on the as have it the bill as favorably reported that objection the motion to consider is laid upon the table members will have two subsequent calendar days in which to submit supplemental minority or additional views for the measure and i want to thank you today for i think we passed a two very good national security economic security bill let me also point out that i think i knew indoor record was set in that we now over the last four years have passed one hundred forty seven bills and resolutions from this committee and about partisan manner so i thank you all for your cooperation