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Union Calendar No. 164 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2011 

[Report No. 112–248] 

To require the Secretary of the Interior to conduct an assessment of the 

capability of the Nation to meet our current and future demands for 

the minerals critical to United States manufacturing competitiveness 

and economic and national security in a time of expanding resource 

nationalism, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 26, 2011 

Mr. LAMBORN (for himself, Mr. HASTINGS of Washington, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. 

BISHOP of Utah, Mr. FLEMING, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. THOMPSON of 

Pennsylvania, Mr. RIVERA, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. TIPTON, Mr. HARRIS, Mr. 

FLEISCHMANN, Mr. BENISHEK, Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, Mr. BOREN, Mr. 

SIMPSON, Mr. GALLEGLY, Mrs. LUMMIS, Mrs. MCMORRIS RODGERS, Mr. 

MATHESON, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, and Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural 

Resources 

OCTOBER 14, 2011 

Additional sponsors: Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado, Mr. BROUN of Georgia, Mr. 

CALVERT, Mr. REHBERG, Mr. WITTMAN, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mr. HECK, 

Mr. DUFFY, Mr. NUNES, Mr. GARDNER, Mr. SOUTHERLAND, Mr. 

DENHAM, Mr. MANZULLO, and Mr. QUAYLE

OCTOBER 14, 2011 

Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole House 

on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

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

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 26, 2011] 


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A BILL 

To require the Secretary of the Interior to conduct an assessment of the capability of the Nation to meet our current 

and future demands for the minerals critical to United 

States manufacturing competitiveness and economic and 

national security in a time of expanding resource nationalism, and for other purposes. 


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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 Policy Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) the availability of minerals and metals is es9 sential for economic growth, national security, techno10 logical innovation, and the manufacturing and agri11 cultural supply chain; 

12 (2) the exploration, production, processing, use, 

13 and recycling of minerals contribute significantly to 

14 the economic well-being, security, and general welfare 

15 of the Nation; 

16 (3) the industrialization of China and India has 

17 driven demand for nonfuel mineral commodities, 

18 sparking a period of resource nationalism exemplified 

19 by China’s reduction and stoppage of exports of rare20 earth mineral elements necessary for telecommuni21 cations, military technologies, medical devices, agri22 cultural production, and renewable energy tech23 nologies; 


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1 (4) the United States has vast mineral resources 

2 but is becoming increasingly dependent upon foreign 

3 sources; 

4 (5) 25 years ago the United States was depend5 ent on foreign sources for 30 nonfuel mineral mate6 rials, 6 of which were entirely imported to meet the 

7 Nation’s requirements and another 16 of which were 

8 imported to meet more than 60 percent of the Na9 tion’s needs; 

10 (6) by 2010, United States import dependence 

11 for nonfuel mineral materials more than doubled from 

12 30 to 67 commodities, 18 commodities were imported 

13 entirely to meet the Nation’s requirements, and an14 other 25 commodities required imports of more than 

15 50 percent; 

16 (7) the United States lacks a coherent national 

17 policy to assure the availability of minerals essential 

18 to manufacturing, national economic well-being and 

19 security, agricultural production, and global economic 

20 competitiveness; and 

21 (8) the Nation’s ability to compete and innovate 

22 requires proper planning and preparation today to 

23 meet tomorrow’s mineral needs. 


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1 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL DECLARATION OF POLICY. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—It is the continuing policy of the 

3 United States to promote an adequate and stable supply 

4 of minerals to maintain our Nation’s economic well-being, 

5 security, and manufacturing, industrial, energy, agricul6 tural, and technological capabilities. 

7 (b) POLICY GOALS.—Implementation of the policy set 

8 forth in subsection (a) requires that the Federal Government 

9 coordinate the Federal departments and agencies respon10 sible for ensuring that supply, to— 

11 (1) facilitate the availability, development, and 

12 production of domestic mineral resources to meet na13 tional needs, including the demands of the Nation’s 

14 manufacturing and agricultural industries; 

15 (2) promote and encourage the development of 

16 economically and environmentally sound, safe, and 

17 stable domestic mining, minerals, metals, processing, 

18 and minerals recycling industries; 

19 (3) establish an assessment capability for identi20 fying the mineral demands, supply, and needs of our 

21 Nation; and 

22 (4) minimize duplication, needless paperwork, 

23 and delays in the administration of Federal and 

24 State laws and regulations, and issuance of permits 

25 and authorizations necessary to explore, develop, and 


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1 produce minerals and construct and operate mineral2 related facilities. 

3 SEC. 4. SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR REPORT ON ACCESS 

4 AND AUTHORIZATIONS FOR MINERAL DEVEL5 OPMENT. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

7 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior, 

8 through the Bureau of Land Management and the United 

9 States Geological Survey, and in consultation with the Sec10 retary of Agriculture (through the Forest Service Mineral 

11 and Geology Management Division), the Secretary of De12 fense, the Secretary of Commerce, and the heads of other 

13 appropriate Federal agencies, shall prepare, submit to Con14 gress, and make available to the public a report that in15 cludes— 

16 (1) an inventory of the nonfossil-fuel mineral po17 tential of lands under the jurisdiction of the Bureau 

18 of Land Management and the Forest Service and an 

19 identification of all such lands that have been with20 drawn, segregated, or otherwise restricted from min21 eral exploration and development; 

22 (2) an assessment of— 

23 (A) the mineral requirements to meet cur24 rent and emerging national security, economic, 


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1 industrial manufacturing, technological, agricul2 tural, and social needs; 

3 (B) the Nation’s reliance on foreign sources 

4 to meet those needs; and 

5 (C) the implications of mineral supply 

6 shortages or disruptions; 

7 (3) a detailed description of the time required to 

8 process mineral applications, operating plans, leases, 

9 licenses, permits, and other use authorizations for 

10 mineral-related activities on lands under the jurisdic11 tion of the Bureau of Land Management and the For12 est Service, and identification of measures that would 

13 streamline the processing of such applications, such as 

14 elimination of overlapping requirements or set dead15 lines; 

16 (4) an itemized list of all use authorizations re17 ferred to in paragraph (3) for which applications are 

18 pending before the Bureau of Land Management and 

19 the Forest Service, and the length of time each of 

20 those applications has been pending; 

21 (5) an assessment of the impact of litigation on 

22 processing or issuing mineral exploration and mine 

23 permits, identification of the statutes the litigation 

24 was brought under, and the cost to the agency or the 


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1 Federal Government, including for payments of attor2 ney fees; 

3 (6) an update of the 2009 Economic Impact of 

4 the Department of the Interior’s Programs and Ac5 tivities report to include locatable minerals; 

6 (7) an assessment of the Federal workforce with 

7 educational degrees and expertise in economic geology, 

8 geochemistry, mining, industrial minerals, metal9 lurgy, metallurgical engineering, and mining engi10 neering, including— 

11 (A) retirement eligibility and agency plans 

12 for retention, recruitment, and succession plan13 ning; 

14 (B) comparison of the existing Federal sala15 ries and recruitment and retention bonuses with 

16 the salaries, recruitment incentives, and reten17 tion packages normally offered in the mineral 

18 industry; and 

19 (C) examination of the differences between 

20 Federal and private financial packages for early21 , mid-, and late-career workers; and 

22 (8) an inventory of rare earth element potential 

23 on the Federal lands, and impediments or restrictions 

24 on the exploration or development of those rare earth 

25 elements, and recommendations to lift the impediVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:46 Oct 14, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H2011.RH H2011

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1 ments or restrictions while maintaining environ2 mental safeguards. 

3 (b) PROGRESS REPORTS.—Not later than one year 

4 after the date of enactment of this Act, and each year there5 after for the following two years, the Secretary of the Inte6 rior shall submit to Congress and make available to the 

7 public a report that describes the progress made in reaching 

8 the policy goals described in section 3(b), including— 

9 (1) efforts to increase access to domestic supplies 

10 of minerals, and facilitation of their production; and 

11 (2) implementation of recommendations con12 tained in— 

13 (A) the National Research Council re14 ports— 

15 (i) Minerals, Critical Minerals, and 

16 the U.S. Economy; 

17 (ii) Managing Minerals for a Twenty18 First Century Military; and 

19 (iii) the current workforce study au20 thorized in sections 385 and 1830 of the 

21 Energy Policy Act of 2005 (119 Stat. 744, 

22 1137); 

23 (B) the Department of Energy Critical 

24 Minerals Strategy I and II; and 


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1 (C) the Department of Defense assessment 

2 and plan for critical rare earth elements in de3 fense applications required under section 843 of 

4 the National Defense Appropriations Act for Fis5 cal Year 2011. 

6 SEC. 5. NATIONAL MINERAL ASSESSMENT. 

7 For the first National Mineral Assessment conducted 

8 after the date of enactment of this Act, the United States 

9 Geological Survey shall include mineral assessments for 

10 those mineral commodities important to the Nation’s energy 

11 infrastructure, manufacturing and agricultural industries, 

12 and to the national defense. Priority should be given to 

13 minerals that are critical based on the impact of a potential 

14 supply restriction and the likelihood of a supply restriction. 

15 SEC. 6. GLOBAL MINERAL ASSESSMENT. 

16 The United States Geological Survey is directed to ex17 pand the current Global Mineral Assessment to include 

18 mineral assessments for rare earth elements and other min19 erals that are critical based on the impact of a potential 

20 supply restriction and the likelihood of a supply restriction. 

21 Assessments conducted under this section shall include an 

22 analysis, developed with participation by the National 

23 Minerals Information Center and in consultation with ap24 propriate agencies, of the rare earth elements or other crit25 ical minerals supply chain and associated processes and 


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1 products, including mining, processing, recycling, separa2 tion, metal production, alloy production, and manufac3 turing of products sold to end users. In conducting the as4 sessment, the United States Geological Survey should co5 ordinate with the heads of foreign geologic surveys when 

6 possible. 

7 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act— 

9 (1) INVENTORY.—The term ‘‘inventory’’ means 

10 an accounting of known mineral occurrences and 

11 mineral deposits, including documentation of identi12 fied resources. 

13 (2) MINERAL ASSESSMENT.—The term ‘‘mineral 

14 assessment’’ means an assessment of undiscovered 

15 mineral resources that includes a qualitative assess16 ment and a quantitative assessment of such resources. 

17 (3) QUALITATIVE ASSESSMENT.—The term 

18 ‘‘qualitative assessment’’ means a geologic-based de19 lineation (mapping) of areas permissive for the occur20 rence of undiscovered mineral resources, based on all 

21 available geotechnical data including geology, geo22 physics, geochemistry, remote sensing, and mineral lo23 calities data. 

24 (4) QUANTITATIVE ASSESSMENT.—The term 

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1 mate of the quantity and quality by tonnage and 

2 grade of undiscovered mineral resources in areas de3 lineated as permissive for occurrence in a qualitative 

4 assessment. 

5 SEC. 8. APPLICABILITY OF OTHER STATUTORY MINING 

6 POLICIES. 

7 Nothing in this Act shall be construed as affecting any 

8 provision of or requirement under the Mining and Minerals 

9 Policy Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 21a). 

Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘A bill to require the 

Secretary of the Interior to conduct an assessment of the 

capability of the Nation to meet our current and future 

demands for the minerals critical to United States manufacturing and agricultural competitiveness and economic 

and national security in a time of expanding resource nationalism, and for other purposes.’’. 


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Union Calendar No. 164 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2011 

[Report No. 112–248] 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of the Interior to conduct 

and for other purposes. rity in a time of expanding resource nationalism, competitiveness and economic and national secuminerals critical to United States manufacturing meet our current and future demands for the an assessment of the capability of the Nation to 

OCTOBER 14, 2011 

Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee 

dered to be printed of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and orVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:46 Oct 14, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H2011.RH H2011

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