“A bill to require the Secretary of Energy to provide technology grants to strengthen domestic mining education, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section establishes a competitive grant program at the Department of Energy (DOE), in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior (acting through the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey), to award not more than 10 grants each fiscal year to mining schools. Mining schools include (1) accredited mining, metallurgical, geological, or mineral engineering programs at institutions of higher education, including Tribal Colleges or Universities, and (2) geology or engineering programs or departments at four-year public institutions of higher education located in states with at least $2 billion in combined "Mining (except oil and gas)" and "Support activities for mining" gross domestic product in 2021, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Grants must be awarded, to the maximum extent practicable, to ensure geographic diversity that develops region-specific specialties and by the later of 180 days after the applicable fiscal year begins or 180 days after enactment of full-year DOE appropriations for that year. In selecting recipients and grant amounts, DOE must consider recommendations from the Mining Professional Development Advisory Board, submit a statement to the Board justifying any full or partial rejection of a recommendation, and publish the statement on the DOE website within 15 days of award. Grant recipients must use funds to recruit students to the mining school and enhance programs related to mining and mineral technologies and practices, including (1) critical mineral and rare earth element exploration, extraction, and refining; (2) reclamation technologies for active and abandoned sites; (3) low-impact extraction, processing, reprocessing, and recycling methods; (4) extraction from nontraditional sources such as coal byproducts or phosphate rocks; (5) acid mine drainage mitigation and revegetation; and (6) mineral economics and supply chain analysis.