Energy Act of 2020 (Critical minerals provisions)

The Energy Act of 2020 is a legislative framework aimed at enhancing the United States' energy infrastructure, promoting energy efficiency and ensuring national security through the management of critical minerals and materials. This act includes various provisions related to energy retrofitting, water efficiency, nuclear energy research, and grid modernisation.

Key definitions under the act include:

• Critical Material: Any non-fuel mineral, element, substance, or material that the Secretary of Energy determines:
  • Has a high risk of a supply chain disruption; and
  • Serves an essential function in one or more energy technologies, including technologies that produce, transmit, store, and conserve energy; or
  • A critical mineral.
• Critical Mineral: Any mineral, element, substance, or material designated as critical by the Secretary of the Interior, and excludes:
  • Fuel minerals;
  • Water, ice, or snow;
  • Common varieties of sand, gravel, stone, pumice, cinders, and clay

The Secretary of the Interior is directed to establish and maintain the list of critical minerals and update the list every three years, while the Secretary of Energy determines the list of critical materials. Moreover, the US Geological Survey (USGS) is directed to conduct domestic resource assessments of critical minerals and make that information publicly available and to produce multiyear forecasts of the production, consumption and recycling patterns of critical minerals over the subsequent 1-year, 5-year, and 10-year periods. The assessments will also include an assessment of the projected critical mineral requirements for national security, energy, economic, and technological needs, as well as the reliance of the US on foreign sources to meet those needs, taking into account the implications of potential supply shortages or disruptions.

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