Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Rare Earth Element Advanced Coal Technologies Act”.
Rare Earth Element Advanced Coal Technologies Act
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.
Sec. 2 Findings
Congress finds that—
the United States is largely dependent on foreign imports for the domestic supply of rare earth elements and minerals in the United States;
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;
access to certain rare earth elements and minerals is critical for the national security of the United States;
China maintains a near monopoly of the global supply chain of rare earth elements and minerals;
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;
rare earth elements—
comprise 17 elements on the periodic table, including—
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
transition elements, which are scandium (Sc) and yttrium (Y); and
can be divided into—
light rare earth elements, which are lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), promethium (Pm), and samarium (Sm); and
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
it is in the interest of the Federal Government—
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
to identify the areas of highest potential interruption in the global supply chain of rare earth elements and minerals; and
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
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.
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
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—
an assessment—
identifying and ranking the rare earth elements that—
are most important to consumers in the United States;
are most jeopardized in the global supply chain; and
will have the greatest impact to consumers in the United States in the event of a disruption in the global supply chain;
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”);
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;
determining what the technologies are capable of producing;
evaluating the performance of the technologies, including what the technologies—
succeed and fail at accomplishing; and
can and cannot do cost-effectively; and
evaluating the market impact on each rare earth mineral of the penetration of commercially viable technologies; and
how the penetration of commercially viable coal-based technology will impact the global supply chain; and
a report analyzing—
the additional resources required for the development of commercial-ready deployment of technologies that are second generation and transformational; and
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.
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.