I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3405 

To direct the Secretary of the Interior to revise the Final List of Critical 

Minerals, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 21, 2019 

Mr. GRIJALVA (for himself and Mr. LOWENTHAL) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of the Interior to revise the Final 

List of Critical Minerals, 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 ‘‘Removing Uranium 

5 from the Critical Minerals List Act.’’ 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Pursuant to Executive Order 13817, the 

9 Department of the Interior published a Final List of 

10 Critical Minerals 2018 (83 Fed. Reg. 23295) on 


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1 May 18th, 2018, that categorizes uranium as a crit2 ical mineral. 

3 (2) A ‘‘critical mineral’’, as defined by Execu4 tive Order 13817, is a mineral— 

5 (A) identified to be a nonfuel mineral or 

6 mineral material essential to the economic and 

7 national security of the United States; 

8 (B) from a supply chain that is vulnerable 

9 to disruption; and 

10 (C) that serves an essential function in the 

11 manufacturing of a product, the absence of 

12 which would have substantial consequences for 

13 the United States economy or national security. 

14 (3) The terms ‘‘nonfuel mineral’’ and ‘‘mineral 

15 material’’ are used elsewhere in Federal law and do 

16 not include uranium. 

17 (4) Uranium is defined as a ‘‘mineral fuel’’ by 

18 the Mining and Minerals Policy Act of 1970— 

19 (A) consistent with how uranium has been 

20 uniformly described by the United States Geo21 logical Survey, the Bureau of Land Manage22 ment, the National Science and Technology 

23 Council Subcommittee on Critical and Strategic 

24 Mineral Supply, and others; and 


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1 (B) supported by the Department of Ener2 gy’s Energy Information Administration catego3 rizing uranium with coal, natural gas, and pe4 troleum as an energy mineral since 1977. 

5 (5) Uranium is not a ‘‘mineral material’’ be6 cause— 

7 (A) the Materials Act of 1947 and the 

8 Multiple Surface Use Act of 1955 define min9 eral materials as ‘‘common varieties’’ of sand, 

10 stone, gravel, pumice, pumicite, cinders, and 

11 clay; and 

12 (B) Federal agencies do not treat uranium 

13 as a ‘‘common variety mineral’’ but as a min14 eral locatable under the General Mining Act of 

15 1872. 

16 (6) The United States uranium supply chain is 

17 not vulnerable to disruption, nor is it highly con18 centrated in individual markets, two requirements 

19 identified in the Department’s methodology for being 

20 considered a critical mineral. 

21 (7) In 2017, the United States imported 52 

22 percent of its uranium from Canada and Australia. 

23 (8) The Department of the Interior did not 

24 demonstrate how uranium meets the definition of a 

25 ‘‘nonfuel mineral’’ or of ‘‘mineral material’’, nor did 


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1 the Department demonstrate that the uranium sup2 ply chain is vulnerable to disruption. 

3 (9) No other significant analysis of critical min4 erals, including those published by the National Re5 search Council, the National Science and Technology 

6 Council, the Department of Energy, the American 

7 Physical Society, and the Materials Research Society 

8 categorize uranium as a critical mineral. 

9 SEC. 3. REVISION OF FINAL RULE REGARDING CRITICAL 

10 MINERALS. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after the 

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

13 shall revise the Final List of Critical Minerals, and any 

14 related regulations, to remove uranium from such list. 

15 (b) RESTRICTION.—The Secretary of the Interior 

16 may not add uranium to the Final List of Critical Min17 erals. 

18 (c) FINAL LIST OF CRITICAL MINERALS.—The term 

19 ‘‘Final List of Critical Minerals’’ means the Final List of 

20 Critical Minerals issued pursuant to Executive Order 

21 13817 (82 Fed. Reg. 60835, relating to a Federal strategy 

22 to ensure secure and reliable supplies of critical minerals). 

Æ 


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