I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4402 

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 

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. 

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’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) The industrialization of China and India 

4 has driven demand for nonfuel mineral commodities, 

5 sparking a period of resource nationalism exempli6 fied by China’s reduction in exports of rare-earth 

7 elements necessary for telecommunications, military 

8 technologies, healthcare technologies, and conven9 tional and renewable energy technologies. 

10 (2) The availability of minerals and mineral 

11 materials are essential for economic growth, national 

12 security, technological innovation, and the manufac13 turing and agricultural supply chain. 

14 (3) The exploration, production, processing, 

15 use, and recycling of minerals contribute signifi16 cantly to the economic well-being, security and gen17 eral welfare of the Nation. 

18 (4) The United States has vast mineral re19 sources, but is becoming increasingly dependent 

20 upon foreign sources of these mineral materials, as 

21 demonstrated by the following: 

22 (A) Twenty-five years ago the United 

23 States was dependent on foreign sources for 30 

24 nonfuel mineral materials, 6 of which the 

25 United States imported 100 percent of the Na26 tion’s requirements, and for another 16 comVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:22 Apr 23, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4402.IH H4402

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1 modities the United States imported more than 

2 60 percent of the Nation’s needs. 

3 (B) By 2011 the United States import de4 pendence for nonfuel mineral materials had 

5 more than doubled from 30 to 67 commodities, 

6 19 of which the United States imported 100 

7 percent of the Nation’s requirements, and for 

8 another 24 commodities, imported more than 

9 50 percent of the Nation’s needs. 

10 (C) The United States share of world wide 

11 mineral exploration dollars was 8 percent in 

12 2011, down from 19 percent in the early 1990s. 

13 (D) In the 2012 Ranking of Countries for 

14 Mining Investment, out of 25 major mining 

15 countries, the United States ranked last with 

16 Papua New Guinea in permitting delays, and 

17 towards the bottom regarding government take 

18 and social issues affecting mining. 

19 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

20 In this Act: 

21 (1) STRATEGIC AND CRITICAL MINERALS.—The 

22 term ‘‘strategic and critical minerals’’ means min23 erals that are necessary— 

24 (A) for national defense and national secu25 rity requirements; 


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

2 including pipelines, refining capacity, electrical 

3 power generation and transmission, and renew4 able energy production; 

5 (C) to support domestic manufacturing, 

6 agriculture, housing, telecommunications, 

7 healthcare, and transportation infrastructure; 

8 and 

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

10 balance of trade. 

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

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

13 local, or tribal government, or Alaska Native Cor14 poration. 

15 (3) MINERAL EXPLORATION OR MINE PER16 MIT.—The term ‘‘mineral exploration or mine per17 mit’’ includes plans of operation issued by the Bu18 reau of Land Management and the Forest Service 

19 pursuant to 43 CFR 3809 and 36 CFR 228A re20 spectively. 


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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 crit8 ical minerals shall be considered an ‘‘infrastructure 

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

10 Performance of Federal Permitting and Review of Infra11 structure Projects’’ dated March 22, 2012. 

12 SEC. 102. RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE LEAD AGENCY. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—The lead agency with responsi14 bility for issuing a mineral exploration or mine permit 

15 shall appoint a project lead who shall coordinate and con16 sult with other agencies, cooperating agencies, project pro17 ponents and contractors to ensure that agencies minimize 

18 delays, set and adhere to timelines and schedules for com19 pletion of reviews, set clear permitting goals and track 

20 progress against those goals. 

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

22 mineral exploration or mine permit may 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 


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1 Policy Act of 1969 because the procedural and substantive 

2 safeguards of the lead agency’s permitting process alone, 

3 any applicable State permitting process alone, or a com4 bination of the two processes together provide an adequate 

5 mechanism to ensure that environmental factors are taken 

6 into 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 

17 than sequentially to the extent practicable and when 

18 such concurrent review will expedite rather than 

19 delay a 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 

25 process including: 


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1 (1) The decision on whether to prepare an envi2 ronmental impact statement. 

3 (2) A determination of the scope of any envi4 ronmental impact statement. 

5 (3) Preparation of any draft environmental im6 pact statement. 

7 (4) Preparation of a final environmental impact 

8 statement. 

9 (5) Consultations required under applicable 

10 laws. 

11 (6) Submission and review of any comments re12 quired under applicable law. 

13 (7) Publication of any public notices required 

14 under applicable law. 

15 (8) A final or any interim decisions. 

16 (e) In no case should the total review process de17 scribed in section 2(d) exceed 30 months unless agreed 

18 to by the signatories of the agreement. 

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

20 or public comments that were not submitted during the 

21 public comment periods provided by the lead agency or 

22 otherwise required by law. 

23 (g) The lead agency will determine the amount of fi24 nancial assurance for reclamation of a mining site, which 

25 must cover the estimated cost if the lead agency were to 


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1 contract with a third party to reclaim the operations ac2 cording to the reclamation plan, including construction 

3 and maintenance costs for any treatment facilities nec4 essary to meet Federal, State or tribal environmental 

5 standards. 

6 SEC. 103. CONSERVATION OF THE RESOURCE. 

7 In developing the mineral exploration or mine permit, 

8 the priority of the lead agency shall be to maximize the 

9 development of the mineral resource, while mitigating en10 vironmental impacts, so that more of the mineral resource 

11 can be brought to the market place. 

12 SEC. 104. FEDERAL REGISTER PROCESS FOR MINERAL EX13 PLORATION AND MINING PROJECTS. 

14 (a) PREPARATION OF FEDERAL NOTICES FOR MIN15 ERAL EXPLORATION AND MINE DEVELOPMENT

16 PROJECTS.—The preparation of Federal Register notices 

17 required by law associated with the issuance of a mineral 

18 exploration or mine permit shall be delegated to the orga19 nization level within the agency responsible for issuing the 

20 mineral exploration or mine permit. All Federal Register 

21 notices regarding official document availability, announce22 ments of meetings, or notices of intent to undertake an 

23 action shall be originated and transmitted to the Federal 

24 Register from the office where documents are held, meet25 ings are held, or the activity is initiated. 


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1 (b) DEPARTMENTAL REVIEW OF FEDERAL REG2 ISTER NOTICES FOR MINERAL EXPLORATION AND MIN3 ING PROJECTS.—Absent any extraordinary circumstance 

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

5 each Federal Register notice described in subsection (a) 

6 shall undergo any required reviews within the Department 

7 of the Interior or the Department of Agriculture and be 

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

9 than 30 days after its initial preparation. 

10 TITLE II—JUDICIAL REVIEW OF 

11 AGENCY ACTIONS RELATING 

12 TO EXPLORATION AND MINE 

13 PERMITS 

14 SEC. 201. DEFINITIONS FOR TITLE. 

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

16 civil action containing a claim under section 702 of title 

17 5, United States Code, regarding agency action affecting 

18 a mineral exploration or mine permit. 

19 SEC. 202. TIMELY FILINGS. 

20 A covered civil action is barred unless filed no later 

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

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


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1 SEC. 203. EXPEDITION IN HEARING AND DETERMINING THE 

2 ACTION. 

3 The court shall endeavor to hear and determine any 

4 covered civil action as expeditiously as possible. 

5 SEC. 204. LIMITATION ON PROSPECTIVE RELIEF. 

6 In a covered civil action, the court shall not grant 

7 or approve any prospective relief unless the court finds 

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

9 necessary to correct the violation of a legal requirement, 

10 and is the least intrusive means necessary to correct that 

11 violation. 

12 SEC. 205. LIMITATION ON ATTORNEYS’ FEES. 

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

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

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

16 civil action, nor shall any party in such a covered civil ac17 tion receive payment from the Federal Government for 

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

Æ 


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