This bill establishes a Critical Materials Processing Technology Testbed under the Department of Energy to research and test new ways of processing critical materials like rare earth elements and strategic minerals. The testbed will focus on improvements that reduce energy use, pollution, water consumption, waste, and costs while improving worker safety and recovery efficiency. The Department of Energy will run a competitive selection process to choose one or more sites from among national laboratories, universities, private companies, and other organizations to operate the testbed. The program will receive $150 million in initial funding for fiscal year 2024 to establish the testbed, then $25 million annually from 2025 through 2028 to operate it, with support potentially continuing beyond five years through a renewal process. The bill requires coordination with the Environmental Protection Agency and ensures that intellectual property and research results generated by the testbed are retained within the United States and transferred to American industry.
Take Action
Your position
Add a comment
to comment on this bill.
Annotate the text
Highlight any passage on the Summary or Full Text tab to attach a note. Annotations appear on the Annotations tab.