Subcommittee Democrats Seek Bipartisan Legislation for Rare Earths and Critical Materials
(Washington, DC) – Today, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology’s Subcommittee on Energy and Environment held a hearing entitled, “Energy Critical Elements: Identifying Research Needs and Strategic Priorities.” The stated purpose of the hearing was to discuss research needs and priorities relating to Energy Critical Elements (ECE) and Rare Earth Elements (REE), and to explore potential legislative approaches.
Rare earth minerals are a group of seventeen elements with unique physical properties that make them ideal as components of lasers, magnets, batteries, and other advanced technologies. They are particularly critical to emerging energy technologies such as wind turbines and electric-drive vehicles. The term “critical materials” typically refers to a broader set of materials or minerals, beyond “rare earths”, that are essential components of military, industrial, and consumer technologies. Rare earth elements and other critical materials are found in ore deposits throughout the world, including the United States. However, China dominates the global market in rare earths with over 90% of the world’s rare earths supplies and, in recent years, has been restricting their exports of the materials.
Ranking Member Brad Miller (D-NC) said in his opening statement, “When the Committee first looked at shortages in rare earths in 2010, we were concerned because China had made it plain that they would use their monopoly supply position to manipulate markets, capture manufacturing jobs, and extract excessive profit from a world that was newly discovering the critical nature of rare earth elements. We wrote a bill that established the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) as the center of an interagency process designed to establish a continuing research effort. We wanted to ensure that our country and our employers and our consumers could not be held hostage by the Chinese government’s manipulation of markets.”
Ranking Member Miller’s bill, H.R. 952, “The Energy Critical Elements Renewal Act of 2011,” is very similar to a bill from the 111th Congress introduced by former Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper (D-PA). That bill passed the House with a bipartisan vote of 325-98, but was not acted on by the Senate before the 111th adjournment.
There was broad agreement among the witnesses and Members that securing supplies of rare earths and other critical materials is in the national interest, though some differences remained on what policy mechanisms and government activities should be used to accomplish this. While all agreed that the government should play a role in compiling and disseminating market information and forcing more transparency in the market, there was not a clear consensus on what types of research would be appropriate for government funding. However, there appeared to be enough common ground to move towards developing bipartisan legislation in the committee.
Ranking Member Miller closed his opening statement, "I hope we can all work together to move a bill in this area. I would just close by noting that this Committee currently has zero bills that have been passed by the House… For this Committee, that is unprecedented for the first session of a Congress, at least going back to Chairman Roe. I would encourage the Majority to consider a bipartisan bill on critical materials as a strong first candidate for markup and passage on the floor of the House."
Related Content
Next Article Previous Article