Critical Mineral Bill Mandates 10-Day Approval Window for Federal Mining Projects

The aptly named Critical Mineral Dominance Act aims to make the United States the world’s leading producer of hardrock minerals, including the rare earth minerals essential for everything from smartphones to electric car batteries. The bill declares this goal is necessary to create jobs, strengthen supply chains, safeguard national security, and reduce the global influence of rival nations (SEC. 2). To hit this target, the legislation mandates two major, immediate actions: first, a rapid accounting of how much mineral import reliance is costing the U.S. economy, and second, an aggressive, fast-track process for approving new mines on Federal land.

The Need for Speed: 10-Day Mining Approvals

If you’ve ever waited for a building permit, you know how long government approvals can take. This bill throws that timeline out the window for priority mining projects. Section 4 dictates that the Secretary of the Interior must identify all mining projects on Federal land and, for those deemed “priority,” must immediately approve or issue all necessary permits and plans of operation within 10 days of listing them. This isn't a suggestion; it's a hard deadline. The goal is clearly to accelerate domestic production by cutting through bureaucratic delays. For the mining industry, this is a massive green light, promising to unlock resources quickly and potentially create high-paying jobs in mineral extraction and processing.

Fast-Tracking Land and Cutting Red Tape

Beyond the 10-day approval window, the bill focuses heavily on land identification and regulatory rollback. Section 5 requires the Secretary to identify all Federal land—including National Forest System land—that could potentially be leased for hardrock mineral exploration and production. This identification must prioritize land that can be permitted and become operational the fastest, and that has the greatest potential impact on strengthening the domestic supply chain. Essentially, the government will be drawing a map of where the next generation of mines can go, focusing on speed and supply.

Section 6 then attacks the regulatory landscape. Within 90 days, the Secretary must review all current regulations, policies, and land withdrawals to identify any agency action that places an “unfair burden” on domestic mining projects. Once identified, the Secretary must “suspend, change, or cancel” these actions as quickly as possible. This is where the rubber meets the road for environmental and land-use policy. While industry feedback will be sought to identify delays, the mandate to rapidly suspend or cancel regulations deemed “burdensome” is broad. For the average person, this means that environmental safeguards or public health protections that currently slow down a mining project near Federal land might be eliminated almost overnight, potentially reducing local communities' ability to weigh in on projects.

What This Means for Everyday Life

On the one hand, this bill could be a powerful tool for supply chain stability. If the U.S. can produce more of the minerals needed for consumer electronics, renewable energy infrastructure, and defense systems, it reduces our reliance on foreign governments—a clear national security benefit. This could theoretically lead to more stable prices for things like electric vehicle batteries in the long run.

On the other hand, the extreme speed required by this legislation raises serious questions about oversight. The 10-day approval window for priority projects and the mandate to rapidly suspend “burdensome” regulations suggest that standard procedures for environmental review, public comment, and consultation with affected groups (such as Tribal entities or local communities) could be severely compressed or bypassed entirely. The concern here is that the rush for mineral dominance could lead to poorly planned operations or environmental damage on Federal lands, where the public is the ultimate owner. This is the classic trade-off: speed and supply chain security versus environmental and community protection. This bill is clearly betting heavily on speed.