Sponsors (2)
The bill promotes domestic critical-mineral recovery and related jobs and transparency to reduce import reliance and pollution risks, but could raise taxpayer costs, add regulatory burdens for small firms, and create environmental/health cleanup risks if recovery operations are not properly managed.
Manufacturers, energy companies, and taxpayers: increased identification and recovery of domestic critical minerals, reducing reliance on foreign imports and strengthening supply chains.
Small businesses and workers in recycling/recovery: creation of new recycling and recovery business opportunities and jobs from recovering minerals in discarded materials and mining residuals.
Nearby rural and urban communities: federal direction to identify recovery approaches that minimize human health and environmental risk, which can reduce local pollution and exposures if implemented.
Nearby rural and urban communities: recovery activities at contaminated sites or processing mining waste could pose residual environmental and health risks and impose cleanup costs if not properly managed.
Taxpayers: implementing recovery programs may require federal funding or resource reallocation, potentially increasing costs for taxpayers.
Small businesses handling waste and metal processing residuals: new recovery initiatives could create regulatory complexity and higher compliance costs for small firms.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires EPA to develop and publicly report a National Critical Mineral Recovery Strategy for recovering critical minerals from discarded materials and wastes.
Directs the EPA, working with other federal agencies, to create and carry out a National Critical Mineral Recovery Strategy that coordinates federal efforts to recover critical minerals from discarded materials (including mining waste, residuals, and metal‑processing waste). The strategy must identify relevant programs and authorities, candidate discarded sources and minerals, barriers and opportunities to expand recovery, supply‑chain roles, and recovery approaches that limit human health and environmental risks. Requires the EPA Administrator to deliver the Strategy and a public report on federal activities and recommendations to two congressional committees within two years of enactment and every two years thereafter.
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 July 9, 2026