HR-3617 : Still Just a Bill

Securing America's Critical Minerals Supply Act

This bill requires the Department of Energy (DOE) to secure the supply of critical energy resources that are essential to the energy security of the United States. A critical energy resource means an energy resource (1) that is essential to the energy sector and energy systems of the United States, and (2) the supply chain of which is vulnerable to disruption.

As part of its duties, DOE must conduct ongoing assessments of

• energy resource criticality,
• the U.S. supply chain of critical energy resources and its vulnerabilities, 
• the diversity of domestic critical energy resource supply chains,
• capacity constraints on the domestic production of critical energy resources,
• federal regulations affecting the domestic production or importation of critical energy resources, 
• how energy security is affected by reliance on imports of critical energy resources, and 
• how adversarial nations seek to exploit critical energy resource markets to undermine investment in the United States.

DOE must also

• facilitate the development of strategies to strengthen critical energy resource supply chains,
• develop substitutes and alternatives to critical energy resources, and
• improve technology that reuses and recycles critical energy resources.