Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 37 / Thursday, February 24, 2022 / Notices 10381 

and competition with invasive 

nonnative plant species. Achieving 

recovery for the 50 species will require 

assessments of populations and their 

habitats; selection of sites for long-term 

conservation; control of threats; 

development of regulatory protections; 

species-specific research; and 

translocation of species in order to 

maximize resiliency, redundancy, and 

representation. A detailed recovery 

strategy for each species group or 

species is presented in the main body of 

the recovery plan. 

Request for Public Comments 

Section 4(f) of the Act requires us to 

provide public notice and an 

opportunity for public review and 

comment during recovery plan 

development. By policy we also request 

peer review of recovery plans (59 FR 

34270; July 1, 1994). In an appendix to 

the approved final recovery plan, we 

will summarize and respond to the 

issues raised during public comment 

and peer review. Substantive comments 

may or may not result in changes to the 

recovery plan. Comments regarding 

recovery plan implementation will be 

forwarded as appropriate to Federal or 

other entities so that they can be taken 

into account during the course of 

implementing recovery actions. 

We will consider all comments we 

receive by the date specified in DATES

prior to final approval of the plan. 

Public Availability of Comments 

Before including your address, phone 

number, email address, or other 

personal identifying information in your 

comment, you should be aware that 

your entire comment—including your 

personal identifying information—may 

be made publicly available at any time. 

While you can ask us in your comment 

to withhold your personal identifying 

information from public review, we 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. 

Authority 

The authority for this action is section 

4(f) of the Endangered Species Act of 

1973, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et 

seq.). 

Robyn Thorson, 

Regional Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–03614 Filed 2–23–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4333–15–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Geological Survey 

2022 Final List of Critical Minerals 

AGENCY: U.S. Geological Survey, 

Department of the Interior. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: By this notice, the Secretary 

of the Interior, acting through the 

Director of the U.S. Geological Survey 

(USGS), presents the 2022 final list of 

critical minerals and the methodology 

used to develop the list. The 2022 final 

list of critical minerals, which revises 

the final list published by the Secretary 

in 2018, includes the following 50 

minerals: Aluminum, antimony, arsenic, 

barite, beryllium, bismuth, cerium, 

cesium, chromium, cobalt, dysprosium, 

erbium, europium, fluorspar, 

gadolinium, gallium, germanium, 

graphite, hafnium, holmium, indium, 

iridium, lanthanum, lithium, lutetium, 

magnesium, manganese, neodymium, 

nickel, niobium, palladium, platinum, 

praseodymium, rhodium, rubidium, 

ruthenium, samarium, scandium, 

tantalum, tellurium, terbium, thulium, 

tin, titanium, tungsten, vanadium, 

ytterbium, yttrium, zinc, and zirconium. 

ADDRESSES: Public comments received 

on the draft list of critical minerals are 

available at www.regulations.gov under 

docket number DOI–2021–0013. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

James Mosley, (703) 648–6312, 

jmosely@usgs.gov. Persons who use a 

telecommunications device for the deaf 

(TDD) may call the Federal Relay 

Service (FRS) at 1–800–877–8339 or dial 

711 to contact Mr. Mosley during 

normal business hours. The FRS is 

available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 

to leave a message or question with this 

individual. You will receive a reply 

during normal business hours. Normal 

business hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 

p.m., Monday through Friday, except for 

Federal holidays. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant 

to Section 7002 of the Energy Act of 

2020 (the Energy Act) (Pub. L. 116–260), 

on November 9, 2021, the Secretary of 

the Interior, acting through the Director 

of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), 

published in the Federal Register a draft 

list of 50 mineral commodities proposed 

for inclusion on the Interior 

Department’s list of critical minerals 

and the methodology USGS used to 

create the list. 86 FR 62199. The Federal 

Register notice provided for a 30-day 

public comment period, which closed 

on December 9, 2021. On December 14, 

2021, the USGS published a notice in 

the Federal Register extending the 

comment period by 32 days. 86 FR 

71083. The public comment period 

closed on January 10, 2022. The 

comments are available for public 

viewing at www.regulations.gov under 

docket DOI–2021–0013. Consistent with 

the methodology described in the 

November 2021 Federal Register notice, 

the 2022 final list of critical minerals 

revises the Interior Department’s final 

list of critical minerals, which it 

published in 2018 pursuant to Executive 

Order 13817—A Federal Strategy to 

Ensure Secure and Reliable Supplies of 

Critical Minerals. 83 FR 23295. 

USGS received 1,073 comments 

during the extended comment period 

and received 4 letters after the comment 

period. Two comments were made 

anonymously, 996 were from 

individuals, and 77 were submitted on 

behalf of organizations. The comments 

included 91 requests to include specific 

minerals, including copper, phosphate, 

silver, and lead, which also were not on 

the 2018 final list, and helium, potash, 

and uranium, which were on the 2018 

final list, but not on the draft list. Many 

of the comments requesting to include 

these specific minerals noted their 

importance or provided other 

qualitative rationale for their inclusion. 

However, the comments did not identify 

any inaccuracies in the data used to 

conduct the quantitative evaluation in 

accordance with the published USGS 

methodology, nor did they identify any 

single points of failure. USGS applied 

the quantitative methodology to each of 

the minerals requested for inclusion that 

were not on the draft list, and per the 

criteria articulated in the Federal 

Register Notice publishing the draft list 

at 86 FR 62199, a qualitative evaluation 

was conducted only when other 

evaluations were not possible. After 

applying the methodology, USGS 

determined that the minerals requested 

for inclusion did not meet the criteria 

for inclusion on the final list. 

There were 991 requests, the vast 

majority of which were form comments, 

supporting the removal of uranium 

(included on the 2018 final list) from 

the 2022 final list. The comments also 

included 5 requests supporting the 

exclusion of other specific minerals, 

including copper, helium, potash, 

rhenium, and strontium, none of which 

the USGS had proposed for inclusion on 

the list. As noted above, USGS received 

requests to include four minerals that 

other commenters also requested to 

exclude: Copper, helium, potash, and 

uranium. 

Some commenters took issue with 

USGS’s reliance on the Mineral Policy 

Act of 1970 to characterize uranium as 

a fuel mineral. Even assuming the 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with NOTICES1
10382 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 37 / Thursday, February 24, 2022 / Notices 

1Nassar, N.T., Brainard, J., Gulley, A., Manley, R., 

Matos, G., Lederer, G., Bird, L.R., Pineault, D., 

Alonso, E., Gambogi, J., Fortier, S.M., 2020, 

Evaluating the mineral commodity supply risk of 

the U.S. manufacturing sector Sci. Adv., 6(8) (2020), 

p. eaay8647, https://doi.org/10.1126/ 

sciadv.aay8647. 

2Nassar, N.T., and Fortier, S.M., 2021, 

Methodology and technical input for the 2021 

review and revision of the U.S. Critical Minerals 

List: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 

2021–1045, 31 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ 

ofr20211045. 

Mineral Policy Act of 1970 does not 

inform the meaning of ‘‘fuel mineral’’ in 

the Energy Act, uranium nevertheless 

qualifies as a ‘‘fuel mineral’’ under the 

latter statute. The Energy Act excludes 

‘‘fuel minerals’’ from the definition of 

critical minerals, and uranium is used 

as a fuel: While uranium has important 

non-fuel uses, it is a major fuel 

commodity in the United States. 

Many public comments addressed 

issues not directly associated with the 

development of the 2022 final list of 

critical minerals. Instead, they 

addressed regulatory and policy issues. 

These comments will be passed on to 

other agencies for appropriate 

consideration. 

A small number of comments 

requested the addition of processed 

mineral products that were not 

evaluated for inclusion on the list in 

this cycle. These included high purity 

silicon metal and boron carbide, for 

example, materials for which USGS 

does not have sufficient data to evaluate 

at this stage. The USGS appreciates the 

input from stakeholders and is 

identifying opportunities to include 

evaluation of these and other minerals 

or mineral products in the next update 

of the methodology. 

The Department’s list of critical 

minerals is not static and will be 

reviewed at least every three years and 

revised as necessary to reflect current 

data on supply, demand, and 

concentration of production, as well as 

current policy priorities, as required 

under the Energy Act. The 2022 final 

list of critical minerals was created 

using the most recent available data for 

non-fuel minerals and the current state 

of the methodology for evaluation of 

criticality. 

The methodology used to develop the 

2022 final list of critical minerals is 

based on the definition of ‘‘critical 

mineral’’ and the criteria specified in 

The Energy Act. The methodology was 

published by the USGS in 2020 1 and 

2021 2 and includes three evaluations: 

(1) A quantitative evaluation of supply 

risk wherever sufficient data were 

available, (2) a semi-quantitative 

evaluation of whether the supply chain 

had a single point of failure, and (3) a 

qualitative evaluation when other 

evaluations were not possible. The 

quantitative evaluation uses (A) a net 

import reliance indicator of the 

dependence of the U.S. manufacturing 

sector on foreign supplies, (B) an 

enhanced production concentration 

indicator which focuses on production 

concentration outside of the United 

States, and (C) weights for each 

producing country’s production 

contribution by its ability or willingness 

to continue to supply the United States. 

Further details on the underlying 

rationale and the specific approach, data 

sources, and assumptions used to 

calculate each component of the supply 

risk metrics are described in the 

references cited in this notice. 

Several comments addressed the 

overall methodology that USGS used to 

develop the list, including assertions 

that the USGS should include 

additional quantitative or qualitative 

factors. USGS appreciates these 

suggestions and will consider them in 

future updates to the methodology. 

However, the USGS did not find that 

any of the comments identified 

technical flaws in the factors considered 

or data used in the quantitative 

methodology that would warrant any 

changes in the methodology. 

After considering all comments 

received, the USGS believes that the 

methodology described in USGS OpenFile Report 2021–1045 (https://doi.org/ 

10.3133/ofr20211045) remains a valid 

basis for the review and revision of the 

list of critical minerals. Therefore, the 

USGS is hereby finalizing the draft list 

of 50 critical minerals as the final list. 

A listing of which critical minerals are 

predominantly recovered as byproducts 

and further rationale for excluding 

copper, helium, lead, phosphate, 

potash, rhenium, silver, strontium, and 

uranium from the 2022 final list of 

critical minerals are outlined in the 

draft list of critical minerals published 

in the Federal Register at 86 FR 62199. 

Host minerals for critical minerals that 

are predominantly recovered as 

byproducts are identified in USGS 

Open-File Report 2021–1045, p. 11. 

The U.S. Government and other 

organizations may also use other 

definitions and rely on other criteria to 

identify a mineral as critical. In 

addition, there are many minerals not 

on the 2022 final list of critical minerals 

that are nevertheless important to the 

economic and national security of the 

United States. This 2022 final list of 

critical minerals is not intended to 

replace related terms and definitions of 

minerals that are deemed strategic, 

critical or otherwise important. 

Authority: E.O. 13817, 82 FR 60835 

(December 26, 2017) and The Energy 

Act of 2020, Section 7002 of Title VII 

(December 27, 2020). 

James D. Applegate, 

Associate Director for Natural Hazards, 

Exercising the Delegated Authority of the 

Director, U.S. Geological Survey. 

[FR Doc. 2022–04027 Filed 2–22–22; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Geological Survey 

[GX22LR000F60100; OMB Control Number 

1028–0062] 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; Submission to the Office of 

Management and Budget for Review 

and Approval; Industrial Minerals 

Surveys 

AGENCY: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of information collection; 

request for comment. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is 

proposing to renew an Information 

Collection with revisions. 

DATES: Interested persons are invited to 

submit comments on or before March 

28, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: Send your comments on 

this Information Collection Request 

(ICR) to the Office of Management and 

Budget’s Desk Officer for the 

Department of the Interior by email at 

OIRA_Submission@omb.eop.gov; or via 

facsimile to (202) 395–5806. Please 

provide a copy of your comments to the 

U.S. Geological Survey, Information 

Collections Officer, 12201 Sunrise 

Valley Drive MS 159, Reston, VA 20192; 

or by email to gs-info_collections@

usgs.gov. Please reference OMB Control 

Number 1028–0062 in the subject line of 

your comments. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To 

request additional information about 

this ICR, contact Elizabeth S. Sangine by 

email at escottsangine@usgs.gov, or by 

telephone at 703–648–7720. You may 

also view the ICR at https://

www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 

accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, we provide the 

general public and other Federal 

agencies with an opportunity to 

comment on new, proposed, revised, 

and continuing collections of 

information. This helps us assess the 

impact of our information collection 


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