[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8808 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8808
To acquire cobalt refining capacity in the United States, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 13, 2022
Mr. Donalds (for himself, Ms. Salazar, Mr. Nehls, Mr. Feenstra, Mr.
Cawthorn, Mr. Crawford, Mr. Baird, Mr. Rosendale, Mr. Hern, Mr. Mullin,
and Mr. Posey) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Financial Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To acquire cobalt refining capacity in the United States, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Cobalt Optimizes Batteries And
Leading Technologies Act of 2022'' or the ``COBALT Act of 2022''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The National Defense Stockpile lacks sufficient cobalt
reserves, falling from 13,000 tons during the Cold War to only
333 tons today.
(2) The United States currently produces zero newly refined
cobalt, making the United States dependent on foreign imports
and secondary scrap materials for nearly 100 percent of its
cobalt consumption.
(3) China is the world's cobalt lynchpin, supplying 72
percent of global refined cobalt.
(4) The International Energy Agency forecasts a cobalt
supply deficit by 2030, ultimately projecting cobalt demand in
2040 to range from 6 to 30 times higher than today's levels.
(5) Cobalt supply chains often face an untraceable mine-to-
refinery chain of custody, risking inadvertent financing of
slave and forced child labor.
(6) Cobalt refineries generally use the process of
hydrometallurgy (e.g., acid leaching) and pyrometallurgy (e.g.,
smelting), jeopardizing the environment.
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the United States lack of cobalt refining capacity is a
serious vulnerability to America's critical mineral supply
chains;
(2) the People's Republic of China's dominant share of the
refined cobalt market and the unprecedented global demand
growth for refined cobalt are threats to the national security,
economic stability, and competitiveness of key industries in
the United States; and
(3) the Department of Defense should--
(A) make purchases and purchase commitments with
new refineries in the United States to encourage them
to scale up production;
(B) stockpile an increased amount of domestically
refined cobalt to decrease the vulnerability of the
United States to supply chain interruptions;
(C) require cobalt refineries in the United States
to present a transparent mine-to-refinery chain of
custody to curb accidental financing of slave and
forced child labor; and
(D) prioritize purchasing cobalt refined through
the environmentally neutral process of chemical vapor
metallurgy to prevent harm to the air, water, and soil.
SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
It shall be the policy of the United States to--
(1) support critical mineral refineries in the United
States through purchases and purchase commitments;
(2) increase the amount of domestically refined critical
minerals in the National Defense Stockpile;
(3) decrease the dependence of the United States on
critical minerals refined in foreign countries, including
China;
(4) combat slave and forced child labor in critical mineral
mining and refining; and
(5) protect the environment from harmful industrial
practices related to critical mineral refining.
SEC. 5. PURCHASE PROGRAM FOR DOMESTICALLY REFINED COBALT.
(a) In General.--The President, acting through Secretary of Defense
and the Defense Logistics Agency, and in consultation with the
Secretary of Energy, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of
the Interior, shall use the authorities provided under title III of the
Defense Production Act of 1950 to increase the amount of domestically
refined cobalt in the National Defense Stockpile by awarding eligible
entities with purchases and purchase commitments of cobalt nanopowder
and sub-nanopowder refined in the United States through the
environmentally neutral process of chemical vapor metallurgy.
(b) Amount.--To carry out subsection (a), the President shall use
$800,000,000 during fiscal year 2024 through fiscal year 2028 from the
Defense Production Act Fund.
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Eligible entity.--The term ``eligible entity'' means a
refinery--
(A) that is owned by United States persons and
operating in the United States;
(B) whose primary business activity, or that of its
parent company, is refining critical minerals;
(C) that refines critical minerals through chemical
vapor metallurgy; and
(D) that provides the Secretary of Defense with a
mine-to-refinery chain of custody, including proof that
the cobalt ore is free of slave and forced child labor.
(2) Chemical vapor metallurgy.--The term ``chemical vapor
metallurgy'' means the process of producing cobalt nanopowder
by chemically vaporizing cobalt ore concentrates near
atmospheric pressure at relatively low temperatures.
(3) Cobalt nanopowder.--The term ``cobalt nanopowder''
means cobalt powders, including pure cobalt and cobalt salts,
refined to the nanopowder scale.
(4) Critical mineral.--The term ``critical mineral'' means
a mineral contained on the list published by the U.S.
Geological Survey of the Department of the Interior titled
``2022 Final List of Critical Minerals'' (87 Fed. Reg. 10381;
published February 24, 2022).
(5) Domestically refined.--The term ``domestically
refined'' means cobalt refined exclusively in the United
States.
(6) Environmentally neutral.--The term ``environmentally
neutral'' means having minimal impact on the air, water, and
soil.
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