I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 9898 

To amend the Department of Energy Organization Act to secure midstream 

processing of critical materials, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 1, 2024 

Mr. GUTHRIE (for himself, Mr. FULCHER, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Mr. BILIRAKIS, 

Mr. BUCSHON, Mr. PFLUGER, Mr. WEBER of Texas, Mr. WITTMAN, Mr. 

MOORE of Utah, Mr. BACON, and Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Department of Energy Organization Act to 

secure midstream processing of critical materials, and 

for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Securing America’s 

5 Midstream Critical Materials Processing of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) midstream separation, processing, refining, 

2 alloying, concentration, smelting, and beneficiation 

3 of critical materials represent a linchpin in efforts to 

4 secure domestic supply chains and reduce our de5 pendence on foreign adversaries; 

6 (2) unreasonable environmental regulations cov7 ering midstream critical materials processors has de8 terred necessary investment and driven industry to9 wards foreign countries; 

10 (3) reshoring domestic industries and their sup11 ply chains improves economic prosperity for Amer12 ican communities, creates stable employment oppor13 tunities, and protects national security interests; 

14 (4) our next generation economy and domestic 

15 manufacturing industry will significantly increase 

16 demand for critical material inputs; 

17 (5) the lack of sufficient domestic midstream 

18 critical material processing capacity presents a vul19 nerability to our economic and national security; 

20 (6) China and other geopolitical adversaries of 

21 the United States have dominated critical material 

22 processing markets, which represents a threat to 

23 America’s next generation economy; 

24 (7) China and other geopolitical adversaries of 

25 the United States purposefully exploit critical mateVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:44 Oct 22, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9898.IH H9898

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1 rial processing markets through unfair trade prac2 tices, such as dumping and price manipulation, in an 

3 attempt to maintain their control and undermine 

4 competing investment opportunities; 

5 (8) the United States needs to expand its tech6 nical workforce expertise and experience in critical 

7 material processing and address workforce chal8 lenges to bolster domestic opportunities supported 

9 by a domestic supply chain for critical materials; 

10 (9) foreign investment from allied nations and 

11 Free Trade Agreement countries presents an oppor12 tunity to reshore domestic midstream critical mate13 rial processing capacity; 

14 (10) the challenges of navigating burdensome 

15 permitting processes act as a hindrance to further 

16 investment in midstream critical material processing 

17 capacity; 

18 (11) midstream critical material processing fa19 cilities require access to reliable and affordable elec20 tricity and will require increased generation and 

21 transmission infrastructure to meet projected future 

22 demands; and 

23 (12) the United States retains some of the 

24 highest environmental and labor standards compared 


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1 to adversarial nations that dominate the midstream 

2 critical material processing industry, such as China. 

3 SEC. 3. NATIONAL ROADMAP ON DOMESTIC OPPORTUNI4 TIES FOR MIDSTREAM CRITICAL MATERIAL 

5 PROCESSING. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the requirements 

7 of the Department of Energy Organization Act (42 U.S.C. 

8 7101 et seq.), the Secretary of Energy, in consultation 

9 with the Secretary of Commerce and the heads of other 

10 appropriate Federal agencies, representatives of the crit11 ical material processing industry, and members of aca12 demia covering critical materials processing industries, 

13 shall— 

14 (1) analyze and report to Congress regarding 

15 the current state of midstream processing of critical 

16 materials; and 

17 (2) identify those places where the United 

18 States-based supply chain for critical materials is in19 sufficient to allow for the appropriate and necessary 

20 development of United States-midstream processing 

21 of critical materials, including opportunities for for22 eign direct investment from allied nations and Free 

23 Trade Agreement countries. 

24 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Secretary of Energy shall 

25 convene an interagency task force comprised of— 


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1 (1) the Secretary of Commerce; 

2 (2) the Secretary of the Treasury; 

3 (3) the Secretary of Defense; 

4 (4) the Secretary of State; 

5 (5) the Secretary of the Interior; and 

6 (6) the Administrator of the Environmental 

7 Protection Agency. 

8 (c) REPORT TIMING.—Not later than 1 year after the 

9 enactment of this Act, the task force shall issue the report 

10 required under subsection (a). 

11 (d) REPORT CONTENTS.—The report required under 

12 subsection (a) shall include— 

13 (1) whether there is an adequate supply of crit14 ical materials to meet current and projected domes15 tic needs that be processed in the United States; 

16 (2) the status of global midstream critical mate17 rials processing industry; 

18 (3) the status of domestic midstream critical 

19 materials processing industry, including its ability to 

20 handle the supply described in paragraph (1); 

21 (4) an analysis of how and why the United 

22 States domestic critical materials processing indus23 try began and continues to outsource operations to 

24 other countries; 


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1 (5) a review of the existing regulatory and per2 mitting apparatus covering midstream critical mate3 rials processing facilities, including requirements 

4 under the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.), 

5 the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Liabil6 ity, and Compensation Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601 

7 et seq.), and the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 

8 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.), or other laws, and how regu9 latory compliance under these requirements influ10 ence potential investments into new facilities; 

11 (6) the economic impact of critical materials 

12 processing to the overall United States economy and 

13 its welfare; 

14 (7) barriers to investment into domestic critical 

15 materials processing, including— 

16 (A) the workforce and educational needs of 

17 expanding critical materials processing; 

18 (B) infrastructure requirements to build 

19 out critical materials processing; and 

20 (C) permitting inefficiencies for domestic 

21 midstream critical materials processing, includ22 ing compliance with the Clean Air Act (42 

23 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.), the Comprehensive Envi24 ronmental Response, Liability, and Compensa25 tion Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.), and 


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1 the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6901 

2 et seq.) and other relevant Federal laws; 

3 (8) the cost-effectiveness, growth potential, and 

4 viability of secondary or alternative critical materials 

5 processing to help meet expected domestic demand 

6 for processed critical materials, including reprocess7 ing or recycling of— 

8 (A) coal or coal waste; 

9 (B) mine tailings; 

10 (C) post-consumer electronic waste devices; 

11 (D) smelter and refinery slags and residu12 als; and 

13 (E) materials or waste recovered from sites 

14 designated as Superfunds pursuant to the Com15 prehensive Environmental Response, Compensa16 tion, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601 

17 et seq.); 

18 (9) a review of the existing efforts by the De19 partment of Energy’s Office of Manufacturing and 

20 Energy, or other efforts within the membership of 

21 the interagency task force convened under sub22 section (b), to advancing secondary or alternative 

23 critical materials processing; 

24 (10) how the expected trend in the demand for 

25 processed critical materials is affected by the role 


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1 that midstream critical material processing in the 

2 United States plays in aiding domestic manufac3 turing; 

4 (11) barriers to foreign direct investment from 

5 allied nations and Free Trade Agreement countries 

6 into the United States for critical material proc7 essing, including workforce challenges, infrastructure 

8 needs, permitting timeframes, and pricing trans9 parency risks; 

10 (12) an identification and measure of the con11 trol the Peoples’ Republic of China and the Russian 

12 Federation have of processed critical materials for 

13 countries that are parties with the United States in 

14 a free trade agreement; 

15 (13) the national security implications posed to 

16 the United States by continued control of midstream 

17 critical material processing industry by the Peoples’ 

18 Republic of China or other geopolitical adversaries; 

19 and 

20 (14) any anti-competitive practices by the Peo21 ples’ Republic of China and any other geopolitical 

22 adversaries of the United States, and other non-mar23 ket state owned enterprises to control the midstream 

24 critical materials processing industry by— 


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1 (A) depressing domestic prices through 

2 dumping refined critical materials onto United 

3 States markets; 

4 (B) manipulating critical material prices to 

5 discourage United States investment and under6 mine long-term stability for United States mar7 kets; 

8 (C) purposefully disrupting supply chains 

9 for United States industries; 

10 (D) manipulation of greenfield investment 

11 into Free Trade Agreement countries; and 

12 (E) establishment of commodity-specific 

13 trading platforms to further entrench the Peo14 ples’ Republic of China’s market dominance. 

15 (e) ADVISORY PANEL.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Energy 

17 shall establish an advisory panel to provide input, 

18 technical analysis, and feedback for and on the re19 port required under subsection (a). 

20 (2) MEMBERSHIP.—The advisory panel shall in21 clude— 

22 (A) 5 representatives from the domestic 

23 critical materials processing industry, includ24 ing— 


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1 (i) a diversity of processed critical ma2 terials; and 

3 (ii) participants in critical material re4 processing or recycling; and 

5 (B) 5 individuals from academia that have 

6 a diversity of perspectives and relevant exper7 tise in— 

8 (i) in domestic critical materials proc9 essing industries; and 

10 (ii) research into national security im11 plications of the impact of the Peoples’ Re12 public of China and other foreign adver13 saries’ engaging in anti-competitive behav14 iors in the critical materials processing in15 dustry. 

16 (3) MEETINGS.—The advisory panel shall meet 

17 not less than 2 times before the task force issues the 

18 report required under subsection (a). 

19 SEC. 4. GAO REPORT. 

20 The Comptroller General of the United States shall 

21 submit to Congress a report regarding how current Fed22 eral policies and permitting processes inhibit investment 

23 in midstream critical materials processing, including— 

24 (1) how Public Law 117–169 (commonly known 

25 as the ‘‘Inflation Reduction Act’’) may have affected 


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1 greenfield foreign-directed investments in free trade 

2 agreement countries from the Peoples’ Republic of 

3 China; 

4 (2) how regulations issued pursuant to the 

5 Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.) and the 

6 Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.) 

7 or other relevant laws inhibit new investments into 

8 midstream critical materials processing; 

9 (3) the role of regulation and permitting, in10 cluding that of litigation, in inhibiting and discour11 aging investment; 

12 (4) a review of— 

13 (A) the effectiveness of Federal policies in 

14 encouraging the utilization of secondary or al15 ternative critical materials sources, including 

16 material re-use, recycling, and materials or 

17 waste recovered from sites identified on the Na18 tional Priorities List as subject to the Com19 prehensive Environmental Response, Compensa20 tion, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601 

21 et seq.); and 

22 (B) whether Federal investments allow for 

23 commercialization by private industry; 

24 (5) a review of the policies of comparable allied 

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1 essing industries to site, permit, and regulate facili2 ties; 

3 (6) a review of the benefits to producers and 

4 consumers of materials used in United States manu5 facturing and finished goods, including— 

6 (A) minerals included on the list published 

7 by the United States Geological Survey pursu8 ant to section 7002(c) of the Energy Act of 

9 2020 (30 U.S.C. 1606(c)); 

10 (B) materials included on the list of crit11 ical materials published by the Department of 

12 Energy pursuant to section 7002(a) of the En13 ergy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. 1606(a)); and 

14 (C) materials of interest designated as 

15 such by the Defense Logistics Agency; and 

16 (7) a review of the role of all Federal agencies 

17 engaged in midstream critical materials processing 

18 and opportunities to improve interagency collabora19 tion and create synergies to leverage individual ex20 pertise. 

21 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

22 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 

23 (1) ADVISORY PANEL.—The term ‘‘advisory 

24 panel’’ means the advisory panel established under 

25 section 3(e). 


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1 (2) CRITICAL MATERIAL.—The term ‘‘critical 

2 material’’ has the meaning given the term in section 

3 7002(a)(2) of the Energy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. 

4 1606(a)(2)). 

5 (3) CRITICAL MATERIAL PROCESSING.—The 

6 term ‘‘critical material processing’’ means any proc7 ess that transforms, refines, separates, alloys, con8 centrates, smelts, or beneficiates raw extracted crit9 ical materials into value added inputs. 

10 (4) TASK FORCE.—The term ‘‘task force’’ 

11 means the interagency task force convened under 

12 section 3(b). 

Æ 


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