[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7636 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 7636
To support international governance of seafloor resource exploration
and responsible polymetallic nodule collection by allied partners,
strengthen domestic processing and refining capabilities, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 12, 2024
Mrs. Miller of West Virginia (for herself and Mr. Joyce of
Pennsylvania) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committees on
Ways and Means, and Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To support international governance of seafloor resource exploration
and responsible polymetallic nodule collection by allied partners,
strengthen domestic processing and refining capabilities, 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 ``Responsible Use of Seafloor
Resources Act of 2024''.
SEC. 2. SEAFLOOR RESOURCE EXPLORATION AND EXPLOITATION.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) The United States is falling behind in competitiveness
within supply chains for critical defense and clean energy
technologies and therefore must develop an alternative supply
of critical minerals to lessen dependance on foreign
adversaries.
(2) Establishing a secure and resilient critical mineral
supply chain is a matter of national security.
(3) China controls roughly 60 percent of the global
critical mineral production and over 85 percent of the world's
refining capacity.
(4) This has been achieved by early and aggressive
investment in mining and processing operations across South
America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.
(5) Recognizing the potential of marine resources to
further its position, China is increasing its investment in
deep-sea mining, holding the most exploration contracts of any
country.
(6) Investing in alternatives serving to diversify supply
such as the collection of seafloor nodules is integral to
ensuring the United States does not continue its over-
dependence on China and other adversarial nations.
(7) As mining has been largely outsourced to other parts of
the world, China has become the top producer of 30 of the 50
U.S. critical minerals. With this shift, the governance of
environmental and social impacts of mining and processing
operations is largely out of the control of the United States.
(8) Prioritizing supply with existing or potential for
transparent, accountable, and responsible sourcing is integral
to ensuring the United States does not continue to export
adverse environmental and social (ESG) impacts of mining and
processing abroad in countries that are apathetic or less
equipped to abide by internationally accepted standards.
(9) Investing in the development of mineral resources and
processing infrastructure quantitatively proven to reduce ESG
impacts, such as seafloor nodules, is integral to ensuring the
raw materials that underpin our domestic industrial base and
transition to clean energy do not have adverse planetary
impacts.
(10) Developing U.S. partnerships to secure seafloor
resources and domestic capabilities to process these materials
is in the nation's economic, environmental and security
interests.
(b) In General.--The President shall direct the Secretary of State,
the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Secretary of Defense, and the
Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy--
(1) together with Federal interagency efforts, to provide
financial, diplomatic, or other forms of support for seafloor
nodule collection, processing, and refining where upstream
sourcing is compliant with regulations; and
(2) to coordinate and expedite across Federal agencies the
development of infrastructure to process and refine seafloor
nodules within the United States.
(c) Reports.--
(1) Office of science and technology policy.--The Director
of the Office of Science and Technology Policy shall annually
submit to the President and Congress a report including the
following:
(A) A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the
benefits to the United States to importing seafloor
nodules and processing and refining such seafloor
nodules domestically, including benefits related to--
(i) foreign relations;
(ii) research and technology development;
(iii) environmental and social impact
monitoring;
(iv) utilization of existing industrial
base, including offshore infrastructure and
processing consumables;
(v) job creation; and
(vi) market impact to various industries,
including battery and electric vehicle
production.
(B) A quantitative analysis comparing the lifecycle
environmental and social effects of sourcing a
benchmark amount of critical minerals from seafloor
nodules to the environmental and social effects of
sourcing such amount of critical minerals from land-
based projects, based on the most recent data available
from both public and private sources, including
consideration of--
(i) benefit sharing and capacity building;
(ii) human health and labor conditions;
(iii) revenue streams; and
(iv) local ecosystem impacts and the
ability to utilize impact mitigation
hierarchies, including avoidance, minimization,
rehabilitation, and offsets.
(C) An analysis of the applicability of seafloor
nodule collection and data acquisition technologies
used in the deep-sea environment for the purpose of
initiatives carried out by the United States, including
the mapping of technologies used and data acquired in
the deep-sea environment in international waters and
mapping, exploring, and characterizing minerals in the
exclusive economic zone of the United States.
(2) Department of commerce.--The Secretary of Commerce
shall submit to the President and Congress a report that
includes a description of Federal legislation and documents
that are relevant to the importation and processing of seafloor
nodules and seafloor nodule-derived products sourced from
outside the exclusive economic zone of the United States by
individuals who are not United States citizens, including--
(A) the Deep Seabed Hard Mineral Resources Act (30
U.S.C. 1401 note et seq.); and
(B) the internal advice decision letter of the
United States Customs and Border Protection regarding
the determination of the origination, tariff, and
Harmonized Tariff System classification of seafloor
nodules and seafloor nodule-derived products.
(d) Critical Mineral Defined.--In this section, the term ``critical
mineral'' has the meaning given the term in section 7002(a)(3) of the
Energy Act of 2020 (30 U.S.C. 1606(a)(3)).
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