II 

Calendar No. 176 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1052 

[Report No. 116–74] 

To authorize the Office of Fossil Energy to develop advanced separation 

technologies for the extraction and recovery of rare earth elements and 

minerals from coal and coal byproducts, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 4, 2019 

Mr. MANCHIN (for himself, Mrs. CAPITO, and Ms. MURKOWSKI) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on Energy and Natural Resources 

AUGUST 16, 2019 

Reported under authority of the order of the Senate of August 1, 2019, by 

Ms. MURKOWSKI, with an amendment 

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

A BILL 

To authorize the Office of Fossil Energy to develop advanced 

separation technologies for the extraction and recovery 

of rare earth elements and minerals from coal and coal 

byproducts, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rare Earth Element 

3 Advanced Coal Technologies Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds that— 

6 (1) the United States is largely dependent on 

7 foreign imports for the domestic supply of rare earth 

8 elements and critical minerals in the United States; 

9 (2) as of the date of enactment of this Act, the 

10 United States does not have domestic production ca11 pability for, or a guaranteed supply chain of, rare 

12 earth elements and critical minerals; 

13 (3) access to certain rare earth elements and 

14 minerals is critical for the national security of the 

15 United States; 

16 (4) China maintains a near monopoly of the 

17 global supply chain of rare earth elements and crit18 ical minerals; 

19 (5) the successful development of commercially 

20 viable refining methods of rare earth elements from 

21 coal byproducts could lead to new economic develop22 ment opportunities in parts of the United States 

23 most affected by the downturn of the coal industry; 

24 (6) rare earth elements— 

25 (A) comprise elements on the periodic 

26 table, including— 


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1 (i) the lanthanides, which are lan2 thanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium 

3 (Pr), neodymium (Nd), samarium (Sm), 

4 europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), terbium 

5 (Tb), dysprosium (Dy), holmium (Ho), er6 bium (Er), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), 

7 and lutetium (Lu); and 

8 (ii) transition elements, which are 

9 scandium (Sc) and yttrium (Y); and 

10 (B) can be divided into— 

11 (i) light rare earth elements, which 

12 are lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseo13 dymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), pro14 methium (Pm), and samarium (Sm); and 

15 (ii) heavy rare earth elements, which 

16 are scandium (Sc), yttrium (Y), gado17 linium (Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium 

18 (Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium 

19 (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), and lutetium (Lu); 

20 and 

21 (7) it is in the interest of the Federal Govern22 ment— 

23 (A) to guide responsible domestic produc24 tion methods of rare earth elements and min25 erals to ensure industry and consumers in the 


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1 United States have access to a reliable domestic 

2 supply of valuable rare earth elements and min3 erals; and 

4 (B)(i) to identify the areas of highest po5 tential interruption in the global supply chain of 

6 rare earth elements and minerals; and 

7 (ii) to strengthen the position of the 

8 United States in that supply chain by miti9 gating potential interruptions through the de10 velopment of advanced separation technologies 

11 for coal and coal byproducts. 

12 SEC. 3. PROGRAM FOR EXTRACTION AND RECOVERY OF 

13 RARE EARTH ELEMENTS AND MINERALS 

14 FROM COAL AND COAL BYPRODUCTS. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Energy, acting 

16 through the Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy (re17 ferred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’), shall carry out 

18 a program under which the Secretary shall develop ad19 vanced separation technologies for the extraction and re20 covery of rare earth elements and minerals from coal and 

21 coal byproducts. 

22 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

23 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 

24 out the program described in subsection (a) $23,000,000 

25 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2027. 


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1 SEC. 4. ASSESSMENT AND REPORT. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

3 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in consulta4 tion with the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of 

5 the Interior, shall carry out, and submit to the Committee 

6 on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the 

7 Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 

8 Representatives— 

9 (1) an assessment— 

10 (A) identifying and ranking the rare earth 

11 elements that— 

12 (i) are most important to consumers 

13 in the United States; 

14 (ii) are most jeopardized in the global 

15 supply chain; and 

16 (iii) will have the greatest impact to 

17 consumers in the United States in the 

18 event of a disruption in the global supply 

19 chain; 

20 (B) evaluating the development of ad21 vanced separation technologies for the extrac22 tion and recovery of rare earth elements and 

23 minerals from coal and coal byproducts (re24 ferred to in this subsection as the ‘‘tech25 nologies’’); 


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1 (C) identifying and evaluating the results 

2 of the development of the technologies, includ3 ing the results with respect to the extraction 

4 and recovery of each rare earth element; 

5 (D) determining what the technologies are 

6 capable of producing; 

7 (E) evaluating the performance of the 

8 technologies, including what the technologies— 

9 (i) succeed and fail at accomplishing; 

10 and 

11 (ii) can and cannot do cost-effectively; 

12 and 

13 (F)(i) evaluating the market impact on 

14 each rare earth mineral of the penetration of 

15 commercially viable technologies; and 

16 (ii) how the penetration of commercially 

17 viable coal-based technology will impact the 

18 global supply chain; and 

19 (2) a report analyzing— 

20 (A) the additional resources required for 

21 the development of commercial-ready deploy22 ment of technologies that are second generation 

23 and transformational; and 


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1 (B) the market impact of processes to 

2 treat and recover rare earth elements and min3 erals from acid mine drainage from coal mines. 

4 (b) REQUIREMENT.—In carrying out the assessment 

5 and report under subsection (a), the Secretary shall focus 

6 on the rare earth elements determined by the Secretary 

7 to be most critical to the national security of the United 

8 States. 

9 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

10 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Rare Earth Element 

11 Advanced Coal Technologies Act’’. 

12 SEC. 2. PROGRAM FOR EXTRACTION AND RECOVERY OF 

13 RARE EARTH ELEMENTS AND MINERALS 

14 FROM COAL AND COAL BYPRODUCTS. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Energy, acting 

16 through the Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy (referred 

17 to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’), shall carry out a pro18 gram under which the Secretary shall develop advanced sep19 aration technologies for the extraction and recovery of rare 

20 earth elements and minerals from coal and coal byproducts. 

21 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

22 authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out 

23 the program described in subsection (a) $23,000,000 for 

24 each of fiscal years 2020 through 2027. 


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1 SEC. 3. REPORT. 

2 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 

3 this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on 

4 Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Com5 mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Represent6 atives a report evaluating the development of advanced sep7 aration technologies for the extraction and recovery of rare 

8 earth elements and minerals from coal and coal byproducts, 

9 including acid mine drainage from coal mines. 


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Calendar No. 176 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1052 

[Report No. 116–74] 

A BILL 

To authorize the Office of Fossil Energy to develop 

other purposes. minerals from coal and coal byproducts, and for tion and recovery of rare earth elements and advanced separation technologies for the extracAUGUST 16, 2019 

Reported with an amendment 


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