Sec. 6. Permitting
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It is the sense of Congress that— critical minerals are fundamental to the economy, competitiveness, and security of the United States; to the maximum extent practicable, the critical mineral needs of the United States should be satisfied by minerals responsibly produced and recycled in the United States; and the Federal permitting process has been identified as an impediment to mineral production and the mineral security of the United States. To improve the quality and timeliness of decisions, the Secretary (acting through the Director of the Bureau of Land Management) and the Secretary of Agriculture (acting through the Chief of the Forest Service) (referred to in this section as the Secretaries ) shall, to the maximum extent practicable, with respect to critical mineral production on Federal land, complete Federal permitting and review processes with maximum efficiency and effectiveness, while supporting vital economic growth, by— establishing and adhering to timelines and schedules for the consideration of, and final decisions regarding, applications, operating plans, leases, licenses, permits, and other use authorizations for mineral-related activities on Federal land; establishing clear, quantifiable, and temporal permitting performance goals and tracking progress against those goals; engaging in early collaboration among agencies, project sponsors, and affected stakeholders— to incorporate and address the interests of those parties; and to minimize delays; ensuring transparency and accountability by using cost-effective information technology to collect and disseminate information regarding individual projects and agency performance; engaging in early and active consultation with State, local, and Indian tribal governments to avoid conflicts or duplication of effort, resolve concerns, and allow for concurrent, rather than sequential, reviews; providing demonstrable improvements in the performance of Federal permitting and review processes, including lower costs and more timely decisions; expanding and institutionalizing permitting and review process improvements that have proven effective; developing mechanisms to better communicate priorities and resolve disputes among agencies at the national, regional, State, and local levels; and developing other practices, such as preapplication procedures.
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretaries shall submit to Congress a report that— identifies additional measures (including regulatory and legislative proposals, as appropriate) that would increase the timeliness of permitting activities for the exploration and development of domestic critical minerals; identifies options (including cost recovery paid by permit applicants) for ensuring adequate staffing and training of Federal entities and personnel responsible for the consideration of applications, operating plans, leases, licenses, permits, and other use authorizations for critical mineral-related activities on Federal land; quantifies the amount of time typically required (including range derived from minimum and maximum durations, mean, median, variance, and other statistical measures or representations) to complete each step (including those aspects outside the control of the executive branch, such as judicial review, applicant decisions, or State and local government involvement) associated with the development and processing of applications, operating plans, leases, licenses, permits, and other use authorizations for critical mineral-related activities on Federal land, which shall serve as a baseline for the performance metric under subsection (d); and describes actions carried out pursuant to subsection (b).
Not later than 90 days after the date of submission of the report under subsection (c), the Secretaries, after providing public notice and an opportunity to comment, shall develop and publish a performance metric for evaluating the progress made by the executive branch to expedite the permitting of activities that will increase exploration for, and development of, domestic critical minerals, while maintaining environmental standards. Beginning with the first budget submission by the President under section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, after publication of the performance metric required under subsection (d), and annually thereafter, the Secretaries shall submit to Congress a report that— summarizes the implementation of recommendations, measures, and options identified in paragraphs
(1)and
(2)of subsection (c); using the performance metric under subsection (d), describes progress made by the executive branch, as compared to the baseline established pursuant to subsection (c)(3), on expediting the permitting of activities that will increase exploration for, and development of, domestic critical minerals; and compares the United States to other countries in terms of permitting efficiency and any other criteria relevant to the globally competitive critical minerals industry. Using data from the Secretaries generated under subsection (e), the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall prioritize inclusion of individual critical mineral projects on the website operated by the Office of Management and Budget in accordance with section 1122 of title 31, United States Code. Not later than 1 year and 300 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Small Business Administration shall submit to the applicable committees of Congress a report that assesses the performance of Federal agencies with respect to— complying with chapter 6 of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as the Regulatory Flexibility Act ), in promulgating regulations applicable to the critical minerals industry; and performing an analysis of regulations applicable to the critical minerals industry that may be outmoded, inefficient, duplicative, or excessively burdensome. Section 41001(6)(A) of the FAST Act ( 42 U.S.C. 4370m(6)(A) ) is amended in the matter preceding clause
(i)by inserting (including critical mineral manufacturing (as defined in section 2 of the after American Mineral Security Act )) manufacturing .
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