IIB 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4402 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 16, 2012 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources 

AN ACT 

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. 


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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 exempli11 fied by China’s reduction in exports of rare-earth 

12 elements necessary for telecommunications, military 

13 technologies, healthcare technologies, and conven14 tional 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, 

20 use, and recycling of minerals contribute signifi21 cantly to the economic well-being, security and gen22 eral welfare of the Nation. 

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


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1 upon foreign sources of these mineral materials, as 

2 demonstrated by the following: 

3 (A) Twenty-five years ago the United 

4 States was dependent on foreign sources for 30 

5 nonfuel mineral materials, 6 of which the 

6 United States imported 100 percent of the Na7 tion’s requirements, and for another 16 com8 modities the United States imported more than 

9 60 percent of the Nation’s needs. 

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

12 more than doubled from 30 to 67 commodities, 

13 19 of which the United States imported 100 

14 percent of the Nation’s requirements, and for 

15 another 24 commodities, imported more than 

16 50 percent of 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. 


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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, 

13 agriculture, 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 PER23 MIT.—The term ‘‘mineral exploration or mine per24 mit’’ includes plans of operation issued by the Bu25 reau of Land Management and the Forest Service 


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1 pursuant to 43 CFR 3809 and 36 CFR 228A re2 spectively. 

3 TITLE I—DEVELOPMENT OF DO4 MESTIC SOURCES OF STRA5 TEGIC AND CRITICAL MIN6 ERALS 

7 SEC. 101. IMPROVING DEVELOPMENT OF STRATEGIC AND 

8 CRITICAL MINERALS. 

9 Domestic mines that will provide strategic and crit10 ical minerals shall be considered an ‘‘infrastructure 

11 project’’ as described in Presidential Order ‘‘Improving 

12 Performance of Federal Permitting and Review of Infra13 structure Projects’’ dated March 22, 2012. 

14 SEC. 102. RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE LEAD AGENCY. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—The lead agency with responsi16 bility for issuing a mineral exploration or mine permit 

17 shall appoint a project lead who shall coordinate and con18 sult with other agencies, cooperating agencies, project pro19 ponents and contractors to ensure that agencies minimize 

20 delays, set and adhere to timelines and schedules for com21 pletion of reviews, set clear permitting goals and track 

22 progress against those goals. 

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

24 mineral exploration or mine permit shall determine any 

25 such action would not constitute a major Federal action 


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1 significantly affecting the quality of the human environ2 ment within the meaning of the National Environmental 

3 Policy Act of 1969 if the procedural and substantive safe4 guards of the lead agency’s permitting process alone, any 

5 applicable State permitting process alone, or a combina6 tion of the two processes together provide an adequate 

7 mechanism to ensure that environmental factors are taken 

8 into account. 

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

10 mineral exploration or mine permit shall enhance govern11 ment coordination on permitting and review by avoiding 

12 duplicative reviews, minimizing paperwork and engaging 

13 other agencies and stakeholders early in the process. The 

14 lead agency shall consider the following best practices: 

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

16 analysis and reviews preformed by State agencies 

17 with jurisdiction over the proposed project. 

18 (2) Conducting reviews concurrently rather 

19 than sequentially to the extent practicable and when 

20 such concurrent review will expedite rather than 

21 delay a decision. 

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

23 lead of the agency with responsibility for issuing a mineral 

24 exploration or mine permit shall enter into an agreement 

25 with the project proponent and other cooperating agencies 


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1 that sets time limits for each part of the permit review 

2 process including the following: 

3 (1) The decision on whether to prepare a docu4 ment required under the National Environmental 

5 Policy Act of 1969. 

6 (2) A determination of the scope of any docu7 ment required under the National Environmental 

8 Policy Act of 1969. 

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

10 studies required to prepare a document required 

11 under the National Environmental Policy Act of 

12 1969. 

13 (4) Preparation of any draft document required 

14 under the National Environmental Policy Act of 

15 1969. 

16 (5) Preparation of a final document required 

17 under the National Environmental Policy Act of 

18 1969. 

19 (6) Consultations required under applicable 

20 laws. 

21 (7) Submission and review of any comments re22 quired under applicable law. 

23 (8) Publication of any public notices required 

24 under applicable law. 

25 (9) A final or any interim decisions. 


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1 (e) In no case should the total review process de2 scribed in subsection (d) exceed 30 months unless agreed 

3 to by the 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 

6 public comment periods provided by the lead agency or 

7 otherwise 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, includ13 ing construction and maintenance costs for any treatment 

14 facilities necessary to meet Federal, State or tribal envi15 ronmental standards. 

16 (h) This section shall apply with respect to a mineral 

17 exploration or mine permit for which an application was 

18 submitted before the date of the enactment of this Act 

19 if the applicant for the permit submits a written request 

20 to the lead agency for the permit. The lead agency shall 

21 begin implementing this section with respect to such appli22 cation within 30 days after receiving such written request. 

23 (i) With respect to strategic and critical materials 

24 within a federally administered unit of the National Forest 

25 System, the lead agency shall— 


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1 (1) exempt all areas of identified mineral re2 sources in Land Use Designations, other than Non3 Development Land Use Designations, in existence as 

4 of the date of the enactment of this Act from the 

5 procedures detailed at and all rules promulgated 

6 under part 294 of title 36, Code for Federal Regula7 tions; 

8 (2) apply such exemption to all additional 

9 routes and areas that the lead agency finds nec10 essary to facilitate the construction, operation, main11 tenance, and restoration of the areas of identified 

12 mineral resources described in paragraph (1); and 

13 (3) continue to apply such exemptions after ap14 proval of the Minerals Plan of Operations for the 

15 unit of the National Forest System. 

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 

19 development of the mineral resource, while mitigating en20 vironmental 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


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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 orga4 nization 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 

8 action shall be originated and transmitted to the Federal 

9 Register from the office where documents are held, meet10 ings are held, or the activity is initiated. 

11 (b) DEPARTMENTAL REVIEW OF FEDERAL REG12 ISTER NOTICES FOR MINERAL EXPLORATION AND MIN13 ING PROJECTS.—Absent any extraordinary circumstance 

14 or except as otherwise required by any Act of Congress, 

15 each Federal Register notice described in subsection (a) 

16 shall undergo any required reviews within the Department 

17 of the Interior or the Department of Agriculture and be 

18 published in its final form in the Federal Register no later 

19 than 30 days after its initial preparation. 


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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 

20 or approve any prospective relief unless the court finds 

21 that such relief is narrowly drawn, extends no further than 

22 necessary to correct the violation of a legal requirement, 

23 and is the least intrusive means necessary to correct that 

24 violation. 


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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 ac6 tion receive payment from the Federal Government for 

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

Passed the House of Representatives July 12, 2012. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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