Sponsors (6)
The bill preserves domestic lead-battery jobs, lowers costs for industry, and eases tax administration by exempting key chemicals from the Superfund excise tax, but does so at the cost of reduced Superfund receipts—raising cleanup funding shortfalls, potential health risks, fiscal uncertainty, and the possibility of shifting costs onto taxpayers while potentially slowing transition to cleaner battery technologies.
Manufacturers and workers in the U.S. lead-battery supply chain (including lead oxide, antimony, and sulfuric acid producers) pay lower costs and retain domestic production, supporting roughly 25,000 direct jobs and ~$23.6B in annual economic activity.
State governments, taxpayers, and critical-infrastructure operators benefit from stronger supply-chain resilience for lead-battery applications used in defense, transportation, telecoms, and energy.
Households and communities could see reduced waste management needs because the bill emphasizes a very high (≈99%) recycling rate for lead batteries, preserving a highly recyclable storage technology.
Households and communities face reduced federal Superfund receipts, which could slow or limit hazardous-site cleanups and remediation funded by that excise tax.
Household and general taxpayers could bear higher costs or face reduced services if Superfund shortfalls are made up from general revenues or other taxpayers.
Communities could face increased health and safety risks if claims that the Superfund fee is discriminatory lead to fee rollback or weaker enforcement and less funding for hazardous-site cleanup.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Introduced February 12, 2025 by Dan Meuser · Last progress February 12, 2025
Eliminates three chemicals (lead oxide, antimony, and sulfuric acid) from the list of taxable chemicals subject to the federal Superfund excise tax. The change removes the Superfund tax on chemicals commonly used in lead-acid battery production, reducing a per-unit tax charged on domestic chemical purchases. The bill is aimed at lowering production costs for U.S. lead battery manufacturers and increasing their competitiveness versus imports; it does not specify an effective date or add new spending or programs.