Title: Rare Earth Element Advanced Coal Technologies Act
Policy area: Energy

Summary:
Rare Earth Element Advanced Coal Technologies Act
This bill requires the Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy to create a program for the development of advanced separation technology to extract and recover rare earth elements and minerals from coal and coal byproducts.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1563 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1563

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

                             July 13, 2017

  Mr. Manchin introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Rare Earth Element Advanced Coal 
Technologies Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) the United States is largely dependent on foreign 
        imports for the domestic supply of rare earth elements and 
        minerals in the United States;
            (2) as of the date of enactment of this Act, the United 
        States does not have domestic production capability for, or a 
        guaranteed supply chain of, rare earth elements and minerals, 
        particularly in times of national crisis;
            (3) access to certain rare earth elements and minerals is 
        critical for the national security of the United States;
            (4) China maintains a near monopoly of the global supply 
        chain of rare earth elements and minerals;
            (5) the successful development of commercially viable 
        refining methods of rare earth elements and minerals from coal 
        byproducts could lead to new economic development opportunities 
        in parts of the United States most affected by the downturn of 
        the coal industry;
            (6) rare earth elements--
                    (A) comprise 17 elements on the periodic table, 
                including--
                            (i) the lanthanides, which are lanthanum 
                        (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium 
                        (Nd), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), europium 
                        (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium 
                        (Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium (Tm), 
                        ytterbium (Yb), and lutetium (Lu); and
                            (ii) transition elements, which are 
                        scandium (Sc) and yttrium (Y); and
                    (B) can be divided into--
                            (i) light rare earth elements, which are 
                        lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), 
                        neodymium (Nd), promethium (Pm), and samarium 
                        (Sm); and
                            (ii) heavy rare earth elements, which are 
                        scandium (Sc), yttrium (Y), europium (Eu), 
                        gadolinium (Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium (Dy), 
                        holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium (Tm), 
                        ytterbium (Yb), and lutetium (Lu); and
            (7) it is in the interest of the Federal Government--
                    (A) to guide responsible domestic production of 
                rare earth elements and minerals to ensure industry and 
                consumers in the United States have access to a 
                reliable domestic supply of valuable rare earth 
                elements and minerals; and
                    (B)(i) to identify the areas of highest potential 
                interruption in the global supply chain of rare earth 
                elements and minerals; and
                    (ii) to strengthen the position of the United 
                States in that supply chain by mitigating potential 
                interruptions through the development of advanced coal 
                technologies.

SEC. 3. PROGRAM FOR EXTRACTION AND RECOVERY OF RARE EARTH ELEMENTS AND 
              MINERALS FROM COAL AND COAL BYPRODUCTS.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Energy, acting through the 
Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy (referred to in this section as 
the ``Secretary''), shall carry out a program under which the Secretary 
shall develop advanced separation technologies for the extraction and 
recovery of rare earth elements and minerals from coal and coal 
byproducts.
    (b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to the Secretary to carry out the program described in 
subsection (a) $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2018 through 2025.

SEC. 4. ASSESSMENT AND REPORT.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Energy, in consultation with the 
Secretary of Defense (referred to in this section as the 
``Secretary''), shall carry out, and submit to the Committee on Energy 
and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and 
Commerce of the House of Representatives--
            (1) an assessment--
                    (A) identifying and ranking the rare earth elements 
                that--
                            (i) are most important to consumers in the 
                        United States;
                            (ii) are most jeopardized in the global 
                        supply chain; and
                            (iii) will have the greatest impact to 
                        consumers in the United States in the event of 
                        a disruption in the global supply chain;
                    (B) evaluating the development of advanced 
                separation technologies for the extraction and recovery 
                of rare earth elements and minerals from coal and coal 
                byproducts (referred to in this subsection as the 
                ``technologies'');
                    (C) identifying and evaluating the results of the 
                development of the technologies, including the results 
                with respect to the extraction and recovery of each 
                rare earth element;
                    (D) determining what the technologies are capable 
                of producing;
                    (E) evaluating the performance of the technologies, 
                including what the technologies--
                            (i) succeed and fail at accomplishing; and
                            (ii) can and cannot do cost-effectively; 
                        and
                    (F)(i) evaluating the market impact on each rare 
                earth mineral of the penetration of commercially viable 
                technologies; and
                    (ii) how the penetration of commercially viable 
                coal-based technology will impact the global supply 
                chain; and
            (2) a report analyzing--
                    (A) the additional resources required for the 
                development of commercial-ready deployment of 
                technologies that are second generation and 
                transformational; and
                    (B) the market impact of processes to treat and 
                recover rare earth elements and minerals from sludge 
                generated during treatment of acid mine drainage from 
                coal mines.
    (b) Requirement.--In carrying out the assessment and report under 
subsection (a), the Secretary shall focus on the rare earth elements 
determined by the Secretary to be most critical to the national 
security of the United States.
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