SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

On February 24, 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order (E.O.) 14017, “America's Supply Chains.” On June 8, 2021, the White House released the 100-Day reviews directed by E.O. 14017, which included a recommendation for the Federal government to establish “an interagency team with expertise in mine permitting and environmental law to identify gaps in statutes and regulations that may need to be updated to ensure new production meets strong environmental standards throughout the lifecycle of the project; ensure meaningful community consultation and consultation with tribal nations, respecting the government-to-government relationship, at all stages of the mining process; and examine opportunities to reduce time, cost, and risk of permitting without compromising these strong environmental and consultation benchmarks.” ^[1]

On September 16, 2021, the Department of the Interior (Department) received a petition for rulemaking pursuant to the Department's regulations at 43 CFR part 14 from 9 Tribal and 31 conservation groups requesting “a rulemaking to strengthen and modernize [the Bureau of Land Management's] regulations at 43 CFR part 3800 et seq. ”

On November 15, 2021, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA); section 40206 of the IIJA, “Critical Minerals Supply Chains and Reliability,” directs the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture to submit a report to Congress by November 15, 2022, that “identifies additional measures, including regulatory and legislative proposals, if appropriate, that would increase the timeliness of permitting activities for the exploration and development of domestic critical minerals.”

To respond to these directives and the rulemaking petition, the Department has created an interagency working group (IWG) on Federal hardrock mining laws, regulations, and permitting, chaired by the Department and including the Department of Agriculture through the U.S. Forest Service; the Environmental ( printed page 42493) Protection Agency; the Army Corps of Engineers; the Departments of Commerce, Energy, Defense, and State; the Council on Environmental Quality; and the National Economic Council. For the purposes of the IWG, “hardrock” minerals are those mineral resources that are subject to disposal under the Mining Law of 1872.

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87 FR 42492