IB 

Union Calendar No. 423 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4402 

[Report No. 112–583, Part I] 

To require the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture 

to more efficiently develop domestic sources of the minerals and mineral 

materials of strategic and critical importance to United States economic 

and national security and manufacturing competitiveness. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 19, 2012 

Mr. AMODEI introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on the 

Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 

each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

JULY 9, 2012 

Additional sponsors: Mr. GOSAR, Mr. HECK, Mr. LONG, Mr. JONES, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, Mr. BENISHEK, Mrs. MCMORRIS RODGERS, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, Mr. TIPTON, Mr. COBLE, Mr. LABRADOR, 

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. GARDNER, Mr. REHBERG, Mrs. LUMMIS, Mr. PEARCE, Mr. SOUTHERLAND, Mr. LAMBORN, 

Mr. FLAKE, Mr. LUETKEMEYER, Mr. HARRIS, Mr. MATHESON, Mr. 

COFFMAN of Colorado, Mr. STIVERS, and Mr. MCCLINTOCK


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 4402 RH

JULY 9, 2012 

Reported from the Committee on Natural Resources with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

JULY 9, 2012 

The Committee on the Judiciary discharged; committed to the Committee of 

the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on April 19, 2012] 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary 

of Agriculture to more efficiently develop domestic 

sources of the minerals and mineral materials of strategic 

and critical importance to United States economic and 

national security and manufacturing competitiveness. 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 4402 RH

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Strategic and 

5 Critical Minerals Production Act of 2012’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The industrialization of China and India 

9 has driven demand for nonfuel mineral commodities, 

10 sparking a period of resource nationalism exemplified 

11 by China’s reduction in exports of rare-earth elements 

12 necessary for telecommunications, military tech13 nologies, healthcare technologies, and conventional 

14 and renewable energy technologies. 

15 (2) The availability of minerals and mineral 

16 materials are essential for economic growth, national 

17 security, technological innovation, and the manufac18 turing and agricultural supply chain. 

19 (3) The exploration, production, processing, use, 

20 and recycling of minerals contribute significantly to 

21 the economic well-being, security and general welfare 

22 of the Nation. 

23 (4) The United States has vast mineral re24 sources, but is becoming increasingly dependent upon 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 4402 RH

1 foreign sources of these mineral materials, as dem2 onstrated by the following: 

3 (A) Twenty-five years ago the United States 

4 was dependent on foreign sources for 30 nonfuel 

5 mineral materials, 6 of which the United States 

6 imported 100 percent of the Nation’s require7 ments, and for another 16 commodities the 

8 United States imported more than 60 percent of 

9 the Nation’s needs. 

10 (B) By 2011 the United States import de11 pendence for nonfuel mineral materials had more 

12 than doubled from 30 to 67 commodities, 19 of 

13 which the United States imported 100 percent of 

14 the Nation’s requirements, and for another 24 

15 commodities, imported more than 50 percent of 

16 the Nation’s needs. 

17 (C) The United States share of world wide 

18 mineral exploration dollars was 8 percent in 

19 2011, down from 19 percent in the early 1990s. 

20 (D) In the 2012 Ranking of Countries for 

21 Mining Investment, out of 25 major mining 

22 countries, the United States ranked last with 

23 Papua New Guinea in permitting delays, and 

24 towards the bottom regarding government take 

25 and social issues affecting mining. 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 4402 RH

1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) STRATEGIC AND CRITICAL MINERALS.—The 

4 term ‘‘strategic and critical minerals’’ means min5 erals that are necessary— 

6 (A) for national defense and national secu7 rity requirements; 

8 (B) for the Nation’s energy infrastructure, 

9 including pipelines, refining capacity, electrical 

10 power generation and transmission, and renew11 able energy production; 

12 (C) to support domestic manufacturing, ag13 riculture, housing, telecommunications, 

14 healthcare, and transportation infrastructure; 

15 and 

16 (D) for the Nation’s economic security and 

17 balance of trade. 

18 (2) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ means any 

19 agency, department, or other unit of Federal, State, 

20 local, or tribal government, or Alaska Native Cor21 poration. 

22 (3) MINERAL EXPLORATION OR MINE PERMIT.— 

23 The term ‘‘mineral exploration or mine permit’’ in24 cludes plans of operation issued by the Bureau of 

25 Land Management and the Forest Service pursuant 

26 to 43 CFR 3809 and 36 CFR 228A respectively. 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 4402 RH

1 TITLE I—DEVELOPMENT OF DO2 MESTIC SOURCES OF STRA3 TEGIC AND CRITICAL MIN4 ERALS 

5 SEC. 101. IMPROVING DEVELOPMENT OF STRATEGIC AND 

6 CRITICAL MINERALS. 

7 Domestic mines that will provide strategic and critical 

8 minerals shall be considered an ‘‘infrastructure project’’ as 

9 described in Presidential Order ‘‘Improving Performance of 

10 Federal Permitting and Review of Infrastructure Projects’’ 

11 dated March 22, 2012. 

12 SEC. 102. RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE LEAD AGENCY. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—The lead agency with responsibility 

14 for issuing a mineral exploration or mine permit shall ap15 point a project lead who shall coordinate and consult with 

16 other agencies, cooperating agencies, project proponents and 

17 contractors to ensure that agencies minimize delays, set and 

18 adhere to timelines and schedules for completion of reviews, 

19 set clear permitting goals and track progress against those 

20 goals. 

21 (b) The lead agency with responsibility for issuing a 

22 mineral exploration or mine permit shall determine any 

23 such action would not constitute a major Federal action 

24 significantly affecting the quality of the human environ25 ment within the meaning of the National Environmental 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 4402 RH

1 Policy Act of 1969 if the procedural and substantive safe2 guards of the lead agency’s permitting process alone, any 

3 applicable State permitting process alone, or a combination 

4 of the two processes together provide an adequate mecha5 nism to ensure that environmental factors are taken into 

6 account. 

7 (c) The lead agency with responsibility for issuing a 

8 mineral exploration or mine permit shall enhance govern9 ment coordination on permitting and review by avoiding 

10 duplicative reviews, minimizing paperwork and engaging 

11 other agencies and stakeholders early in the process. The 

12 lead agency shall consider the following best practices: 

13 (1) Deferring to and relying upon baseline data, 

14 analysis and reviews preformed by State agencies 

15 with jurisdiction over the proposed project. 

16 (2) Conducting reviews concurrently rather than 

17 sequentially to the extent practicable and when such 

18 concurrent review will expedite rather than delay a 

19 decision. 

20 (d) At the request of a project proponent, the project 

21 lead of the agency with responsibility for issuing a mineral 

22 exploration or mine permit shall enter into an agreement 

23 with the project proponent and other cooperating agencies 

24 that sets time limits for each part of the permit review proc25 ess including the following: 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 4402 RH

1 (1) The decision on whether to prepare a docu2 ment required under the National Environmental 

3 Policy Act of 1969. 

4 (2) A determination of the scope of any docu5 ment required under the National Environmental 

6 Policy Act of 1969. 

7 (3) The scope of and schedule for the baseline 

8 studies required to prepare a document required 

9 under the National Environmental Policy Act of 

10 1969. 

11 (4) Preparation of any draft document required 

12 under the National Environmental Policy Act of 

13 1969. 

14 (5) Preparation of a final document required 

15 under the National Environmental Policy Act of 

16 1969. 

17 (6) Consultations required under applicable 

18 laws. 

19 (7) Submission and review of any comments re20 quired under applicable law. 

21 (8) Publication of any public notices required 

22 under applicable law. 

23 (9) A final or any interim decisions. 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 4402 RH

1 (e) In no case should the total review process described 

2 in subsection (d) exceed 30 months unless agreed to by the 

3 signatories of the agreement. 

4 (f) The lead agency is not required to address agency 

5 or public comments that were not submitted during the pub6 lic comment periods provided by the lead agency or other7 wise required by law. 

8 (g) The lead agency will determine the amount of fi9 nancial assurance for reclamation of a mineral exploration 

10 or mining site, which must cover the estimated cost if the 

11 lead agency were to contract with a third party to reclaim 

12 the operations according to the reclamation plan, including 

13 construction and maintenance costs for any treatment fa14 cilities necessary to meet Federal, State or tribal environ15 mental standards. 

16 SEC. 103. CONSERVATION OF THE RESOURCE. 

17 In developing the mineral exploration or mine permit, 

18 the priority of the lead agency shall be to maximize the de19 velopment of the mineral resource, while mitigating envi20 ronmental impacts, so that more of the mineral resource 

21 can be brought to the market place. 

22 SEC. 104. FEDERAL REGISTER PROCESS FOR MINERAL EX23 PLORATION AND MINING PROJECTS. 

24 (a) PREPARATION OF FEDERAL NOTICES FOR MIN25 ERAL EXPLORATION AND MINE DEVELOPMENT


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
10 

•HR 4402 RH

1 PROJECTS.—The preparation of Federal Register notices 

2 required by law associated with the issuance of a mineral 

3 exploration or mine permit shall be delegated to the organi4 zation level within the agency responsible for issuing the 

5 mineral exploration or mine permit. All Federal Register 

6 notices regarding official document availability, announce7 ments of meetings, or notices of intent to undertake an ac8 tion shall be originated and transmitted to the Federal Reg9 ister from the office where documents are held, meetings are 

10 held, or the activity is initiated. 

11 (b) DEPARTMENTAL REVIEW OF FEDERAL REGISTER

12 NOTICES FOR MINERAL EXPLORATION AND MINING

13 PROJECTS.—Absent any extraordinary circumstance or ex14 cept as otherwise required by any Act of Congress, each Fed15 eral Register notice described in subsection (a) shall under16 go any required reviews within the Department of the Inte17 rior or the Department of Agriculture and be published in 

18 its final form in the Federal Register no later than 30 days 

19 after its initial preparation. 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
11 

•HR 4402 RH

1 TITLE II—JUDICIAL REVIEW OF 

2 AGENCY ACTIONS RELATING 

3 TO EXPLORATION AND MINE 

4 PERMITS 

5 SEC. 201. DEFINITIONS FOR TITLE. 

6 In this title the term ‘‘covered civil action’’ means a 

7 civil action containing a claim under section 702 of title 

8 5, United States Code, regarding agency action affecting 

9 a mineral exploration or mine permit. 

10 SEC. 202. TIMELY FILINGS. 

11 A covered civil action is barred unless filed no later 

12 than the end of the 60-day period beginning on the date 

13 of the final Federal agency action to which it relates. 

14 SEC. 203. EXPEDITION IN HEARING AND DETERMINING THE 

15 ACTION. 

16 The court shall endeavor to hear and determine any 

17 covered civil action as expeditiously as possible. 

18 SEC. 204. LIMITATION ON PROSPECTIVE RELIEF. 

19 In a covered civil action, the court shall not grant or 

20 approve any prospective relief unless the court finds that 

21 such relief is narrowly drawn, extends no further than nec22 essary to correct the violation of a legal requirement, and 

23 is the least intrusive means necessary to correct that viola24 tion. 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
12 

•HR 4402 RH

1 SEC. 205. LIMITATION ON ATTORNEYS’ FEES. 

2 Sections 504 of title 5, United States Code, and 2412 

3 of title 28, United States Code (together commonly called 

4 the Equal Access to Justice Act) do not apply to a covered 

5 civil action, nor shall any party in such a covered civil 

6 action receive payment from the Federal Government for 

7 their attorneys’ fees, expenses, and other court costs. 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS

srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 423 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4402 

[Report No. 112–583, Part I] 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of the Interior and the 

and manufacturing competitiveness. to United States economic and national security eral materials of strategic and critical importance velop domestic sources of the minerals and minSecretary of Agriculture to more efficiently deJULY 9, 2012 

Reported from the Committee on Natural Resources with 

J

an amendment 

ULY 9, 2012 

The Committee on the Judiciary discharged; committed 

the Union and ordered to be printed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS