Subcommittee on Environment previews seven bills to boost domestic critical‑minerals recovery

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Environment opened a hearing focused on proposals to expand domestic recovery of critical minerals and remove regulatory barriers to recycling.

The chair said the meeting follows a prior subcommittee session examining how U.S. environmental laws affect access to minerals needed for health care, defense, energy and telecommunications. “Removing regulatory barriers to a more robust domestic recycling industry could allow us to recover more of these minerals from products already in the United States,” the chair said.

The chair framed the discussion as both an economic and national‑security issue, citing data from the United States Geological Survey that the United States is entirely reliant on imports for 13 of the 60 mineral commodities on its 2025 critical‑minerals list and reliant on imports for more than half of consumption of another 20 minerals. The chair warned that foreign competitors have shown a willingness to “weaponize their control of crucial supply chains,” and urged federal coordination that includes the Environmental Protection Agency.

The chair described EPA’s technical expertise and ongoing remediation work and highlighted a program the transcript identifies as the Environmental Monitoring and Remediation Technology Assessment (referred to in the hearing as MMT), which the chair said seeks to identify and recover critical minerals and waste materials at legacy mining sites. “EPA has developed unique knowledge that should be leveraged to shore up domestic supply chains and identify opportunities to facilitate recovery of domestic material from discarded materials,” the chair said.

The subcommittee plans to consider seven discussion drafts the chair described as aimed at eliminating unnecessary barriers to the growth of a domestic recycling industry, establishing EPA as a leader in interagency efforts to recover critical minerals and supporting remediation of contaminated sites. No formal votes or motions were recorded during the opening remarks; the chair said the panel hoped to finalize bipartisan bills after additional conversations.

The chair introduced four witnesses who will testify: David Colon, chief executive officer of Serba Solutions; Dr. Jessica Dunn, scientist, clean transportation, Union of Concerned Scientists; Aaron Goldberg, principal at Beverage and Diamond and environmental attorney; and Grayson Buckingham, co‑founder and chief executive officer of Disha Technologies. The witnesses were presented as sources of technical, legal and industry perspective for the pending discussion drafts.

The hearing will proceed with witness testimony and questioning on the seven discussion drafts. The chair urged bipartisan engagement as the subcommittee moves toward drafting specific legislative text.