12. Department of Energy and Related Commissions · Minor
Pursue processing of critical minerals from coal and fossil fuel waste
Printed page 377 12. Department of Energy and Related Commissions
“The processing of critical materials from fossil fuel waste products (primarily coal) has shown some potential and, in view of our vast domestic reserves of coal and abundant waste from coal mining and combustion, should be pursued.”
What has happened
- Partially done
DOE stood up the machinery: the Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation was divided into three pillars, the first of them the Office of Critical Minerals, Materials, and Manufacturing, charged with diversifying critical mineral and metal supply chains, processing and metallurgy innovation and recycling; the Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office runs the coal research program and has issued funding opportunities through 2026.
- Attempted
EO 14261 section 3 designated coal a mineral under EO 14241, entitling it to that order's mineral-production benefits, and section 11(a) directed the Secretary of Energy to use all available funding mechanisms to expand coal technologies including those that use coal and coal byproducts as battery materials, carbon fibre and synthetic graphite, with an action plan to the President within 90 days.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
The Quote is narrow: processing critical materials from fossil fuel waste products, primarily coal. The coal-as-mineral designation and the CMEI critical-minerals pillar deliver the policy and the organization; no award or facility specifically for recovering critical minerals from coal waste was confirmed on an allowlisted page, which is why this stops at partial.
- Action
- expand
- Object
- processing of critical minerals from fossil fuel waste
- ID
- 955