Position on the Reintroduction of the Critical Materials Future Act and the Unearth Innovation Act
The Federation of American Scientists strongly supports the reintroduction of the Critical Materials Future Act and the Unearth Innovation Act.
The Critical Materials Future Act would launch a pilot program at the Department of Energy (DOE) to use innovative financial mechanisms, such as contracts for difference, to support domestic processing projects, ensuring that these projects can withstand global market volatility. The bill also directs the Secretary to produce a study on the impact of these tools in advancing the development of the domestic critical minerals supply chains. The Unearth Innovation Act would establish a Mineral and Mining Innovations Initiative at DOE to research and develop new approaches for producing critical minerals in a more efficient and less environmentally impactful manner.
“The United States desperately needs a new and proactive approach to developing responsible, resilient critical minerals supply chains for the technologies that undergird our future. The Federation of American Scientists applauds the reintroduction of the Critical Materials Future Act and the Unearth Innovation Act,” said Daniel Correa, Chief Executive Officer at the Federation of American Scientists. “The Critical Materials Future Act is a strong starting point for providing necessary price and offtake certainty to domestic processing projects, which face particularly strong headwinds due to the narrow margins and severe global market concentration in the industry. Through investing in near-term capacity and innovating on byproduct recovery and recycling, remining and remediation, and robust community engagement, these bills will ensure the stability and longevity of critical minerals supply chains for the U.S.”
“There is no energy transition, no energy security without critical minerals, and the current state of critical minerals supply chains makes them extremely vulnerable to disruption. Accelerating the pace of decarbonization will require proactively addressing the problem of where and how these materials are sourced. The Critical Materials Future Act and the Unearth Innovation Act meet the moment by countering the market failures hindering the development of domestic processing capacity and reinvigorating American minerals innovation,” said Alice Wu, Senior Policy Associate for Clean Energy at the Federation of American Scientists
For more information contact Alice Wu at awu@fas.org
The Federation of American Scientists supports the Critical Materials Future Act and the Unearth Innovation Act.
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