Business Council for Sustainable Energy voices support for crackdown on critical mineral supply chains
As the House considers numerous ways to lock China out of the U.S. market, the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE) recently wrote to the chamber in support of moves to secure domestic supply chains for critical minerals, components, and materials.
“The December 2023 Select Committee report, “Reset, Prevent, Build: A Strategy to Win America’s Economic Competition with the Chinese Communist Party,” identifies numerous bipartisan policy findings and recommendations,” the BCSE wrote. “The report specifically highlights a dangerous U.S. dependency on China for critical minerals, then recommends transparency into U.S. supply chains for critical minerals and a package of investments, regulatory reforms, and tax incentives to reduce U.S. dependency.”
The group drew attention to three pieces of legislation in its letter: the Critical Minerals Security Act (H.R. 7662), Public-Private Information Sharing on Manipulative Adversary Practices Act (S.3957 and H.R. 7699), and the Rare Earth Magnet Manufacturing Production Tax Credit Act (S.3521 and H.R. 2849). Each, it said, would support American manufacturers while also boosting national security by undercutting dependence on foreign supply chains – Chinese ones, in particular.
The BCSE is an umbrella of companies, utilities and trade associations stretching across the energy efficiency, natural gas and renewable energy sectors. It has been in operation since 1992.
“The work by the House Select Committee to assist U.S. industries to responsibly source critical minerals will be key to the continued clean energy transition,” Lisa Jacobson, BCSE president, said. “BCSE members appreciate the consideration Congress has provided in developing these pieces of legislation and we look forward to working with you to enact durable, bipartisan solutions to support domestic clean energy industries.”
By implementing the three referenced bills, BCSE said that the United States would guarantee its critical minerals and materials would be sourced domestically and from friendly countries only, insulate its domestic producers from price volatility and weaponization of supply chains, and incentivize American manufacturing, mineral development and production capacity through new tax policy. Both the Critical Minerals Security Act and the Public-Private Information Sharing on Manipulative Adversary Practices Act were introduced in March, but have gone no further. H.R. 2849 was the most recent bill, introduced last month.
