I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4481 

To authorize an energy critical elements program, to amend the National 

Materials and Minerals Policy, Research and Development Act of 1980, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 24, 2019 

Mr. SWALWELL of California introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 

A BILL 

To authorize an energy critical elements program, to amend 

the National Materials and Minerals Policy, Research 

and Development Act of 1980, 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 Energy Crit5 ical Elements and American Jobs Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT9 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate Congressional comVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:40 Sep 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4481.IH H4481

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1 mittees’’ means the Committee on Science, Space, 

2 and Technology of the House of Representatives and 

3 the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Trans4 portation and the Committee on Energy and Natural 

5 Resources of the Senate. 

6 (2) CENTER.—The term ‘‘Center’’ means the 

7 Critical Materials Information Center established 

8 under section 101(d). 

9 (3) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 

10 means the Department of Energy. 

11 (4) ENERGY CRITICAL ELEMENT.—The term 

12 ‘‘energy critical element’’ means any of a class of 

13 chemical elements that have a high risk of a supply 

14 disruption and are critical to one or more new, en15 ergy-related technologies such that a shortage of 

16 such element would significantly inhibit large-scale 

17 deployment of technologies that produce, transmit, 

18 store, or conserve energy. 

19 (5) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

20 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 

21 meaning given such term in section 101(a) of the 

22 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 

23 (6) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 

24 the program authorized in section 101(a). 


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1 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

2 the Secretary of Energy. 

3 TITLE I—ENERGY CRITICAL 

4 ELEMENTS 

5 SEC. 101. ENERGY CRITICAL ELEMENTS PROGRAM. 

6 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF PROGRAM.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry 

8 out a program of research, development, demonstra9 tion, and commercial application to assure the long10 term, secure, and sustainable supply of energy crit11 ical elements sufficient to satisfy the national secu12 rity, economic well-being, and industrial production 

13 needs of the United States. This program may be 

14 carried out primarily by an Energy Innovation Hub 

15 established under section 206 of the Department of 

16 Energy Research Coordination Act (42 U.S.C. 

17 18632). 

18 (2) PROGRAM ACTIVITIES.—The program shall 

19 focus on areas that the private sector by itself is not 

20 likely to undertake because of technical and financial 

21 uncertainty and support activities to— 

22 (A) improve methods for the extraction, 

23 processing, use, recovery, and recycling of en24 ergy critical elements; 


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1 (B) improve the understanding of the per2 formance, processing, and adaptability in engi3 neering designs using energy critical elements; 

4 (C) improve the understanding of energy 

5 critical element supply chains, risks from supply 

6 disruption, supply restriction, volatility in de7 mand, and difficulty to substitute; 

8 (D) identify and test alternative materials 

9 that can be substituted for energy critical ele10 ments and maintain or exceed current perform11 ance; and 

12 (E) engineer and test applications that— 

13 (i) use recycled energy critical ele14 ments; 

15 (ii) use alternative materials; or 

16 (iii) seek to minimize energy critical 

17 element content. 

18 (3) EXPANDING PARTICIPATION.—In carrying 

19 out the program, the Secretary shall encourage mul20 tidisciplinary collaborations of participants, including 

21 opportunities for students and post-doctoral staff at 

22 institutions of higher education. 

23 (4) CONSISTENCY.—The program shall be con24 sistent with the policies and programs in the NaVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:40 Sep 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4481.IH H4481

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1 tional Materials and Minerals Policy, Research and 

2 Development Act of 1980 (30 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.). 

3 (5) INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION.—In car4 rying out the program, the Secretary shall collabo5 rate, to the extent practicable, on activities of mu6 tual interest with the relevant agencies of foreign 

7 countries with interests relating to energy critical 

8 elements. 

9 (b) PLAN.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Within 180 days after the 

11 date of enactment of this Act and biennially there12 after, the Secretary shall prepare and submit to the 

13 appropriate Congressional committees a plan to 

14 carry out the program. 

15 (2) SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS.—The plan re16 quired under paragraph (1) shall include a descrip17 tion of— 

18 (A) the research and development activities 

19 to be carried out by the program during the 

20 subsequent 2 years; 

21 (B) the expected contributions of the pro22 gram to the creation of innovative methods and 

23 technologies for the efficient and sustainable 

24 provision of energy critical elements to the do25 mestic economy; and 


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1 (C) how the program is promoting the 

2 broadest possible participation by academic, in3 dustrial, and other contributors. 

4 (3) CONSULTATION.—In preparing each plan 

5 under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall consult 

6 with appropriate representatives of industry, institu7 tions of higher education, Department of Energy na8 tional laboratories, professional and technical soci9 eties, other Federal agencies, and other entities, as 

10 determined by the Secretary. 

11 (c) COORDINATION AND NONDUPLICATION.—To the 

12 maximum extent practicable, the Secretary shall ensure 

13 that the activities carried out under this title are coordi14 nated with, and do not unnecessarily duplicate the efforts 

15 of, other programs within the Federal Government. 

16 (d) CRITICAL MATERIALS INFORMATION CENTER.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the program 

18 established under section 101, the Secretary shall es19 tablish and maintain a Critical Materials Informa20 tion Center to collect, catalogue, disseminate, and 

21 archive information on energy critical elements in 

22 coordination with the Office of Scientific and Tech23 nical Information of the Department of Energy. 

24 (2) CENTER ACTIVITIES.—The Center shall— 


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1 (A) serve as the repository for scientific 

2 and technical data generated by the research 

3 and development activities funded under this 

4 section; 

5 (B) assist scientists and engineers in mak6 ing the fullest possible use of the Center’s data 

7 holdings; 

8 (C) seek and incorporate other information 

9 on energy critical elements to enhance the Cen10 ter’s utility for program participants and other 

11 users; and 

12 (D) provide advice to the Secretary con13 cerning the program. 

14 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 

16 appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this Act 

17 the following sums: 

18 (A) For fiscal year 2020, $30,000,000. 

19 (B) For fiscal year 2021, $31,500,000. 

20 (C) For fiscal year 2022, $33,075,000. 

21 (D) For fiscal year 2023, $34,728,750. 

22 (E) For fiscal year 2024, $36,465,188. 

23 (2) AVAILABILITY.—Such sums shall remain 

24 available until expended. 


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1 SEC. 102. SUPPLY OF ENERGY CRITICAL ELEMENTS. 

2 The President, acting through the Critical Material 

3 Supply Chain Subcommittee of the Committee on Envi4 ronment, Natural Resources, and Sustainability of the Na5 tional Science and Technology Council, shall— 

6 (1) coordinate the actions of applicable Federal 

7 agencies to promote an adequate and stable supply 

8 of energy critical elements necessary to maintain na9 tional security, economic well-being, and industrial 

10 production with appropriate attention to a long-term 

11 balance between resource production, energy use, a 

12 healthy environment, natural resources conservation, 

13 and social needs; 

14 (2) identify energy critical elements and estab15 lish scenario modeling systems for supply problems 

16 of energy critical elements; 

17 (3) establish a mechanism for the coordination 

18 and evaluation of Federal programs with energy crit19 ical element needs, including Federal programs in20 volving research and development, in a manner that 

21 complements related efforts carried out by the pri22 vate sector and other domestic and international 

23 agencies and organizations; 

24 (4) promote and encourage private enterprise in 

25 the development of an economically sound and stable 

26 domestic energy critical elements supply chain; 


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1 (5) promote and encourage the recycling of en2 ergy critical elements, taking into account the logis3 tics, economic viability, environmental sustainability, 

4 and research and development needs for completing 

5 the recycling process; 

6 (6) promote and encourage the development of 

7 substitute materials and processes that lower the de8 pendence of the United States on energy critical ele9 ments; 

10 (7) assess the need for, and make recommenda11 tions concerning, the availability and adequacy of 

12 the supply of technically trained personnel necessary 

13 for energy critical elements research, development, 

14 extraction, and industrial production, with a par15 ticular focus on the problem of attracting and main16 taining high-quality professionals for maintaining an 

17 adequate supply of energy critical elements; and 

18 (8) report to the appropriate Congressional 

19 committees on activities and findings under this sec20 tion. 


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1 TITLE II—NATIONAL MATERIALS 

2 AND MINERALS POLICY, RE3 SEARCH, AND DEVELOPMENT 

4 SEC. 201. AMENDMENTS TO NATIONAL MATERIALS AND 

5 MINERALS POLICY, RESEARCH AND DEVEL6 OPMENT ACT OF 1980. 

7 (a) PROGRAM PLAN.—Section 5 of the National Ma8 terials and Minerals Policy, Research and Development 

9 Act of 1980 (30 U.S.C. 1604) is amended— 

10 (1) by striking ‘‘date of enactment of this Act’’ 

11 each place it appears and inserting ‘‘date of enact12 ment of the Securing Energy Critical Elements and 

13 American Jobs Act of 2019’’; 

14 (2) in subsection (b)(1), by striking ‘‘Federal 

15 Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering, and 

16 Technology’’ and inserting ‘‘National Science and 

17 Technology Council’’; 

18 (3) in subsection (c)— 

19 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph 

20 (1)— 

21 (i) by striking ‘‘the Federal Emer22 gency’’ and all that follows through ‘‘Agen23 cy, and’’; and 

24 (ii) by striking ‘‘appropriate shall’’ 

25 and inserting ‘‘appropriate, shall’’; 


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1 (B) by striking paragraph (1); 

2 (C) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘in the 

3 case’’ and all that follows through ‘‘sub4 section,’’; 

5 (D) by redesignating paragraphs (2) and 

6 (3) as paragraphs (1) and (2), respectively; and 

7 (E) by amending paragraph (2), as so re8 designated, to read as follows: 

9 ‘‘(2) assess the adequacy and stability of the 

10 supply of materials necessary to maintain national 

11 security, economic well-being, and industrial produc12 tion.’’; 

13 (4) by striking subsection (d); and 

14 (5) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as 

15 subsections (d) and (e), respectively. 

16 (b) POLICY.—Section 3 of the National Materials and 

17 Minerals Policy, Research and Development Act of 1980 

18 (30 U.S.C. 1602) is amended— 

19 (1) by striking ‘‘The Congress declares that it’’ 

20 and inserting ‘‘It’’; and 

21 (2) by striking ‘‘The Congress further declares 

22 that implementation’’ and inserting ‘‘Implementa23 tion’’. 

24 (c) IMPLEMENTATION.—Section 4 of the National 

25 Materials and Minerals Policy, Research and Development 


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1 Act of 1980 (30 U.S.C. 1603) is amended, in the matter 

2 preceding paragraph (1)— 

3 (1) by striking ‘‘For the purpose’’ and all that 

4 follows through ‘‘declares that the’’ and inserting 

5 ‘‘The’’; and 

6 (2) by striking ‘‘departments and agencies,’’ 

7 and inserting ‘‘departments and agencies to imple8 ment the policy specified in section 3’’. 

9 SEC. 202. CONFORMING REPEAL. 

10 The National Critical Materials Act of 1984 (30 

11 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) is repealed. 

Æ 


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