Sec. 4. Secretary of the Interior report on access and authorizations for mineral development

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Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior, through the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Geological Survey, and in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture (through the Forest Service Mineral and Geology Management Division), the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Commerce, and the heads of other appropriate Federal agencies, shall prepare, submit to Congress, and make available to the public a report that includes— an inventory of the nonfossil-fuel mineral potential of lands under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service and an identification of all such lands that have been withdrawn, segregated, or otherwise restricted from mineral exploration and development; an assessment of— the mineral requirements to meet current and emerging national security, economic, industrial manufacturing, technological, agricultural, and social needs; the Nation’s reliance on foreign sources to meet those needs; and the implications of mineral supply shortages or disruptions; a detailed description of the time required to process mineral applications, operating plans, leases, licenses, permits, and other use authorizations for mineral-related activities on lands under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service, and identification of measures that would streamline the processing of such applications, such as elimination of overlapping requirements or set deadlines; an itemized list of all use authorizations referred to in paragraph

(3)for which applications are pending before the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service, and the length of time each of those applications has been pending; an assessment of the impact of litigation on processing or issuing mineral exploration and mine permits, identification of the statutes the litigation was brought under, and the cost to the agency or the Federal Government, including for payments of attorney fees; an update of the 2009 Economic Impact of the Department of the Interior’s Programs and Activities report to include locatable minerals; an assessment of the Federal workforce with educational degrees and expertise in economic geology, geochemistry, mining, industrial minerals, metallurgy, metallurgical engineering, and mining engineering, including— retirement eligibility and agency plans for retention, recruitment, and succession planning; comparison of the existing Federal salaries and recruitment and retention bonuses with the salaries, recruitment incentives, and retention packages normally offered in the mineral industry; and examination of the differences between Federal and private financial packages for early-, mid-, and late-career workers; and an inventory of rare earth element potential on the Federal lands, and impediments or restrictions on the exploration or development of those rare earth elements, and recommendations to lift the impediments or restrictions while maintaining environmental safeguards. Not later than one year after the date of enactment of this Act, and each year thereafter for the following two years, the Secretary of the Interior shall submit to Congress and make available to the public a report that describes the progress made in reaching the policy goals described in section 3(b), including— efforts to increase access to domestic supplies of minerals, and facilitation of their production; and implementation of recommendations contained in— the National Research Council reports— Minerals, Critical Minerals, and the U.S. Economy; Managing Minerals for a Twenty-First Century Military; and the current workforce study authorized in sections 385 and 1830 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (119 Stat. 744, 1137); the Department of Energy Critical Materials Strategy I and II; and the Department of Defense assessment and plan for critical rare earth elements in defense applications required under section 843 of the National Defense Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2011.

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119 Stat. 744

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Sec. 4

Secretary of the Interior report on access and authorizations for mineral development

Stat.119 Stat. 744

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