US Codex
Bill
Notes

H.R. 3405 — what changed

Uranium Classification Act of 2019

From Introduced in House to Reported in House. 2 sections amended and 1 removed between Introduced in House and Reported in House.

Section 1 Short title

changed This Act may be cited as the “Removing Uranium from the Critical Minerals List Act.”“Uranium Classification Act of 2019”.

Sec. 2 Revision of final rule regarding critical minerals

(a)
added In general— Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall revise the Final List of Critical Minerals, and any related regulations, to remove uranium from such list.

removed Congress finds the following:

(b)
changed Restriction— Pursuant to Executive Order 13817, the Department The Secretary of the Interior published a may not add uranium to the Final List of Critical Minerals 2018 (83 Fed. Reg. 23295) on May 18th, 2018, that categorizes uranium as a critical mineral.Minerals.
(c)
changed Final List of Critical Minerals— A “critical mineral”, as defined by The term “Final List of Critical Minerals” means the Final List of Critical Minerals issued pursuant to Executive Order 13817, is 13817 (82 Fed. Reg. 60835, relating to a mineral—Federal strategy to ensure secure and reliable supplies of critical minerals).
(A)
removed identified to be a nonfuel mineral or mineral material essential to the economic and national security of the United States;
(B)
removed from a supply chain that is vulnerable to disruption; and
(C)
removed that serves an essential function in the manufacturing of a product, the absence of which would have substantial consequences for the United States economy or national security.
(3)
removed The terms “nonfuel mineral” and “mineral material” are used elsewhere in Federal law and do not include uranium.
(4)
removed Uranium is defined as a “mineral fuel” by the Mining and Minerals Policy Act of 1970—
(A)
removed consistent with how uranium has been uniformly described by the United States Geological Survey, the Bureau of Land Management, the National Science and Technology Council Subcommittee on Critical and Strategic Mineral Supply, and others; and
(B)
removed supported by the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration categorizing uranium with coal, natural gas, and petroleum as an energy mineral since 1977.
(5)
removed Uranium is not a “mineral material” because—
(A)
removed the Materials Act of 1947 and the Multiple Surface Use Act of 1955 define mineral materials as “common varieties” of sand, stone, gravel, pumice, pumicite, cinders, and clay; and
(B)
removed Federal agencies do not treat uranium as a “common variety mineral” but as a mineral locatable under the General Mining Act of 1872.
(6)
removed The United States uranium supply chain is not vulnerable to disruption, nor is it highly concentrated in individual markets, two requirements identified in the Department’s methodology for being considered a critical mineral.
(7)
removed In 2017, the United States imported 52 percent of its uranium from Canada and Australia.
(8)
removed The Department of the Interior did not demonstrate how uranium meets the definition of a “nonfuel mineral” or of “mineral material”, nor did the Department demonstrate that the uranium supply chain is vulnerable to disruption.
(9)
removed No other significant analysis of critical minerals, including those published by the National Research Council, the National Science and Technology Council, the Department of Energy, the American Physical Society, and the Materials Research Society categorize uranium as a critical mineral.

Sec. 3 Revision of final rule regarding critical minerals

removed
(a)
removed In general— Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall revise the Final List of Critical Minerals, and any related regulations, to remove uranium from such list.
(b)
removed Restriction— The Secretary of the Interior may not add uranium to the Final List of Critical Minerals.
(c)
removed Final List of Critical Minerals— The term “Final List of Critical Minerals” means the Final List of Critical Minerals issued pursuant to Executive Order 13817 (82 Fed. Reg. 60835, relating to a Federal strategy to ensure secure and reliable supplies of critical minerals).