Sponsors (2)
The bill aims to boost domestic critical-mineral supply, create business and job opportunities, and increase transparency while trading off potential taxpayer costs, environmental/residual risks near recovery sites, and added regulatory burdens for small firms.
Taxpayers and small businesses: coordinated federal efforts to identify discarded-material sources and recover critical minerals can increase domestic supply and reduce reliance on foreign imports.
Small-business owners and energy workers: recovering critical minerals from mining waste and processing residuals could create new recycling and recovery business opportunities and jobs.
Rural and urban communities near recovery sites: requiring the Strategy to identify recovery approaches that minimize human health and environmental risk can reduce pollution and exposure for nearby residents.
Rural and urban communities near contaminated or processing sites: recovery activities could pose residual environmental or health risks if not properly managed, imposing cleanup or health costs on those communities.
Taxpayers: implementing recovery programs may require federal funding or regulatory changes, potentially increasing costs for taxpayers or prompting resource reallocation.
Small-business owners: new recovery initiatives may create regulatory complexity for businesses handling waste or metal processing residuals, raising compliance costs for small firms.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires EPA to develop and report a National Critical Mineral Recovery Strategy to coordinate federal recovery of critical minerals from discarded materials.
Requires the EPA to create and run a National Critical Mineral Recovery Strategy to coordinate federal efforts to recover critical minerals from discarded materials such as mining waste, processing residuals, and scrap. The Strategy must identify relevant federal programs and authorities, candidate material sources and minerals, opportunities and barriers for recovery, and ways to minimize human health and environmental risks. The EPA must submit the Strategy and a description of actions taken and planned to two congressional committees within two years of enactment and every two years after that, make the report public, and include recommended legislative actions. The bill adopts the existing statutory definition of “critical mineral.”
Official title: To amend the Solid Waste Disposal Act to direct the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to coordinate a National Critical Mineral Recovery Strategy, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 9, 2026 by Gary James Palmer · Last progress September 16, 2026