II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1130
To require the Secretary of Energy to provide technology grants to strengthen
domestic mining education, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH25, 2025
Mr. B
ARRASSO(for himself, Mr. HICKENLOOPER, Mr. HOEVEN, Ms. CORTEZ
M
ASTO, Mr. JUSTICE, Mr. BENNET, Mr. CURTIS, Mr. KELLY, Mr.
R
OUNDS, Ms. ROSEN, and Mr. GALLEGO) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Nat-
ural Resources
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Energy to provide technology
grants to strengthen domestic mining education, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Technology Grants to 4
Strengthen Domestic Mining Education Act of 2025’’ or 5
the ‘‘Mining Schools Act of 2025’’. 6
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SEC. 2. TECHNOLOGY GRANTS TO STRENGTHEN DOMESTIC 1
MINING EDUCATION. 2
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 3
(1) B
OARD.—The term ‘‘Board’’ means the 4
Mining Professional Development Advisory Board 5
established by subsection (d)(1). 6
(2) I
NSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION .—The 7
term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 8
meaning given the term in section 101 of the Higher 9
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 10
(3) M
INING INDUSTRY.—The term ‘‘mining in-11
dustry’’ means the mining industry of the United 12
States, consisting of the search for, and extraction, 13
beneficiation, refining, smelting, processing, reproc-14
essing, and recycling of, naturally occurring metal 15
and nonmetal minerals from the earth. 16
(4) M
INING PROFESSION.—The term ‘‘mining 17
profession’’ means the body of jobs directly relevant 18
to— 19
(A) the exploration, planning, execution, 20
and remediation of metal and nonmetal mining 21
sites; and 22
(B) the extraction, including the separa-23
tion, refining, alloying, smelting, concentration, 24
processing, reprocessing, and recycling, of min-25
eral ores. 26
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(5) MINING SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘mining 1
school’’ means— 2
(A) a mining, metallurgical, geological, or 3
mineral engineering program accredited by the 4
Accreditation Board for Engineering and Tech-5
nology, Inc., that is located at an institution of 6
higher education, including a Tribal College or 7
University (as defined in section 316(b) of the 8
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 9
1059c(b))); or 10
(B) a geology or engineering program or 11
department that is located at a 4-year public in-12
stitution of higher education located in a State 13
the gross domestic product of which in 2021 14
was not less than $2,000,000,000 in the com-15
bined categories of ‘‘Mining (except oil and 16
gas)’’ and ‘‘Support activities for mining’’, ac-17
cording to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. 18
(6) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 19
the Secretary of Energy. 20
(b) D
OMESTICMININGEDUCATIONSTRENGTHENING 21
P
ROGRAM.—The Secretary, in consultation with the Sec-22
retary of the Interior (acting through the Director of the 23
United States Geological Survey), shall— 24
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(1) establish a grant program to strengthen do-1
mestic mining education; and 2
(2) under the program established in paragraph 3
(1), award competitive grants to mining schools for 4
the purpose of recruiting and educating the next 5
generation of mining engineers and other qualified 6
professionals to meet the future energy and mineral 7
needs of the United States. 8
(c) G
RANTS.— 9
(1) I
N GENERAL.—In carrying out the grant 10
program established under subsection (b)(1), the 11
Secretary shall award not more than 10 grants each 12
year to mining schools. 13
(2) S
ELECTION REQUIREMENTS .— 14
(A) I
N GENERAL.—To the maximum ex-15
tent practicable, the Secretary shall select re-16
cipients for grants under paragraph (1) to en-17
sure geographic diversity among grant recipi-18
ents to ensure that region-specific specialties 19
are developed for region-specific geology. 20
(B) T
IMELINE.—The Secretary shall 21
award the grants under paragraph (1) by not 22
later than the later of— 23
(i) the date that is 180 days after the 24
start of the applicable fiscal year; and 25
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(ii) the date that is 180 days after the 1
date on which the Act making full-year ap-2
propriations for the Department of Energy 3
for the applicable fiscal year is enacted. 4
(3) R
ECOMMENDATIONS OF THE BOARD .— 5
(A) I
N GENERAL.—In selecting recipients 6
for grants under paragraph (1) and deter-7
mining the amount of each grant, the Sec-8
retary, to the maximum extent practicable, shall 9
take into consideration the recommendations of 10
the Board under subparagraphs (A) and (B) of 11
subsection (d)(3). 12
(B) S
ELECTION STATEMENT .—In selecting 13
recipients for grants under paragraph (1), the 14
Secretary shall— 15
(i) in response to a recommendation 16
from the Board, submit to the Board a 17
statement that describes— 18
(I) whether the Secretary accepts 19
or rejects, in whole or in part, the rec-20
ommendation of the Board; and 21
(II) the justification and ration-22
ale for any rejection, in whole or in 23
part, of the recommendation of the 24
Board; and 25
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(ii) not later than 15 days after 1
awarding a grant for which the Board sub-2
mitted a recommendation, publish the 3
statement submitted under clause (i) on 4
the Department of Energy website. 5
(4) U
SE OF FUNDS.—A mining school receiving 6
a grant under paragraph (1) shall use the grant 7
funds— 8
(A) to recruit students to the mining 9
school; and 10
(B) to enhance and support programs re-11
lated to, as applicable— 12
(i) mining, mineral extraction effi-13
ciency, and related processing technology; 14
(ii) emphasizing critical mineral and 15
rare earth element exploration, extraction, 16
and refining; 17
(iii) reclamation technology and prac-18
tices for active mining operations; 19
(iv) the development of reprocessing 20
systems and technologies that facilitate 21
reclamation that fosters the recovery of re-22
sources at abandoned mine sites; 23
(v) mineral extraction, refining, proc-24
essing, reprocessing, and recycling methods 25
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that reduce environmental and human im-1
pacts; 2
(vi) technologies to extract, refine, 3
separate, smelt, produce, or recycle min-4
erals, including rare earth elements; 5
(vii) reducing dependence on foreign 6
energy and mineral supplies through in-7
creased domestic critical mineral produc-8
tion and recycling; 9
(viii) enhancing the competitiveness of 10
United States energy and mineral tech-11
nology exports; 12
(ix) the extraction or processing of co-13
inciding mineralization, including rare 14
earth elements, within coal or other ores, 15
coal or mineral processing byproduct, over-16
burden, or residue from coal, minerals, or 17
other ores; 18
(x) enhancing technologies and prac-19
tices relating to mitigation of acid mine 20
drainage, reforestation, and revegetation in 21
the reclamation of land and water re-22
sources adversely affected by mining; 23
(xi) enhancing exploration and charac-24
terization of new or novel deposits, includ-25
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ing rare earth elements and critical min-1
erals within phosphate rocks, uranium- 2
bearing deposits, and other nontraditional 3
sources; 4
(xii) meeting challenges of extreme 5
mining conditions, such as deeper deposits 6
or cold region mining; 7
(xiii) mineral economics, including 8
analysis of supply chains, future mineral 9
needs, and unconventional mining re-10
sources; and 11
(xiv) mining practices that reduce en-12
vironmental impact, including mining prac-13
tices that reduce water usage, mitigate 14
surface disturbance, and promote overall 15
resource efficiency. 16
(d) M
ININGPROFESSIONALDEVELOPMENT ADVI-17
SORYBOARD.— 18
(1) I
N GENERAL.—There is established an advi-19
sory board, to be known as the ‘‘Mining Professional 20
Development Advisory Board’’. 21
(2) C
OMPOSITION.—The Board shall be com-22
posed of 6 members, to be appointed by the Sec-23
retary not later than 180 days after the date of en-24
actment of this Act, of whom— 25
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(A) 3 shall be individuals who are actively 1
working in the mining profession and for the 2
mining industry; and 3
(B) 3 shall have experience in academia 4
implementing and operating professional skills 5
training and education programs in the mining 6
sector. 7
(3) D
UTIES.—The Board shall— 8
(A) evaluate grant applications received 9
under subsection (c) and make recommenda-10
tions to the Secretary for selection of grant re-11
cipients under that subsection; 12
(B) propose the amount of the grant for 13
each applicant recommended to be selected 14
under subparagraph (A); and 15
(C) perform oversight to ensure that grant 16
funds awarded under subsection (c) are used 17
for the purposes described in paragraph (4) of 18
that subsection. 19
(4) T
ERM.—A member of the Board shall serve 20
for a term of 4 years. 21
(5) V
ACANCIES.—A vacancy on the Board— 22
(A) shall not affect the powers of the 23
Board; and 24
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(B) shall be filled in the same manner as 1
the original appointment was made by not later 2
than 180 days after the date on which the va-3
cancy occurs. 4
(e) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 5
authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 6
$10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2033. 7
SEC. 3. REPEAL OF THE MINING AND MINERAL RESOURCES 8
INSTITUTES ACT. 9
The Mining and Mineral Resources Institutes Act (30 10
U.S.C. 1221 et seq.) is repealed. 11
Æ
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