May 12, 2026
Mr. Whitesides introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
To impose certain conditions on mineral materials sales contracts and free use permits under the Materials Act of 1947 with respect to large-scale mineral extraction projects located near urban communities, and for other purposes.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Containing Effects of Mineral Extraction Act of 2026
.
Sec. 2. Requirements for certain mineral materials sales contracts and free use permits
(a) Requirements
(1) In general
The Secretary may only enter into a mineral materials sales contract with respect to, or issue a free use permit for the disposal of mineral materials pursuant to, a qualifying project under the Act of July 31, 1947 (30 U.S.C. 601 et seq.; commonly known as the Materials Act of 1947
) if—
(A)
the person carrying out the qualifying project—
(i)
submits to the Secretary—
(I)
a haul route impact assessment for the qualifying project—
(aa)
jointly developed by the person and the agency with jurisdiction over transportation of each State and political subdivision thereof within which the qualifying project will be carried out;
(bb)
that concludes the qualifying project will not materially degrade the safety or level of service on highways on the haul route; and
(cc)
that, consistent with applicable laws and other standards relating to air quality and noise, identifies measures that shall be taken to minimize dust, particulate emissions, and noise impacts on land adjacent to the haul route that is used for sensitive or residential purposes;
(II)
a trip management plan for the qualifying project that sets limits on—
(aa)
load staging;
(bb)
hours of operation; and
(cc)
debris controls;
(III)
a water use and conservation plan for the qualifying project that, consistent with applicable State and Tribal laws, ensures the projected annual consumptive use of groundwater and surface water by the qualifying project will be offset within the same basin through conservation or other feasible measures; and
(IV)
a rail or lower-impact transportation analysis for the qualifying project that evaluates whether rail-served aggregate supply or other lower-impact modes of transportation are feasible for the majority of projected tonnage of the qualifying project; and
(ii)
demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Secretary that, with respect to the qualifying project, the person—
(I)
will implement each of the items submitted to the Secretary under clause (i);
(II)
has coordinated in good faith with affected State, Tribal, and local governments to identify and undertake reasonable haul-route safety and maintenance measures;
(III)
has acquired all necessary water rights; and
(IV)
has been issued each required permit under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) and the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300f et seq.); and
(B)
the Secretary determines each of the items submitted to the Secretary under subparagraph (A)(i)—
(i)
meet applicable Federal, State, Tribal, and local laws and other standards relating to transportation safety, air quality, noise, and water resources; and
(ii)
reflect any modification requested by an affected State, Tribal, or local government under paragraph (2) that is determined to be reasonable under subparagraph (B) of that paragraph.
(2) Modification requests
(A) In general
A State, Tribal, or local government that is affected by a qualifying project may submit to the Secretary a request for a modification of the qualifying project.
(B) Reasonableness determination
If a State, Tribal, or local government submits a request for a modification of a qualifying project under subparagraph (A), the Secretary and the applicable State, Tribal, or local government shall jointly select an entity to carry out an independent review of the modification to determine whether the modification is reasonable.
(b) Incorporation of lower-Impact transportation options in qualifying projects
If the analysis submitted to the Secretary under subsection (a)(1)(A)(i)(IV) for a qualifying project demonstrates that lower-impact modes of transportation, including rail, are feasible for the majority of projected tonnage of the qualifying project, the Secretary shall, where practicable, take into account the incorporation of such modes into the qualifying project in entering into a mineral materials sales contract with respect to, or issuing a free use permit for the disposal of mineral materials pursuant to, the qualifying project under the Act of July 31, 1947 (30 U.S.C. 601 et seq.; commonly known as the Materials Act of 1947
).
(c) Enforcement
The Secretary may require the suspension of operations under or terminate or revoke a mineral materials sales contract entered into with respect to, or a free use permit issued for the disposal of mineral materials pursuant to, a qualifying project under the Act of July 31, 1947 (30 U.S.C. 601 et seq.; commonly known as the Materials Act of 1947
) if the Secretary determines, after notice and opportunity to cure, the person carrying out the qualifying project has failed to comply with a requirement of this section.
(d) Annual reports
(1) In general
A person carrying out a qualifying project shall annually submit to the Secretary a report regarding the qualifying project, including, with respect to the preceding year—
(A)
the volume of groundwater and surface water consumed;
(B)
the number of truck trips made by commercial motor vehicle; and
(C)
the implementation of each of the items submitted to the Secretary under subsection (a)(1)(A)(i).
(2) Confidential business information
Each report submitted to the Secretary under paragraph (1) and information included in each such report—
(A)
shall be—
(i)
treated as confidential business information; and
(ii)
exempt from disclosure under section 552(b)(3)(B) of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as the Freedom of Information Act
); and
(B)
except as provided in paragraph (3), may not be made publicly available.
(3) Publicly available summary
The Secretary shall annually—
(A)
aggregate the information included in the annual reports submitted under paragraph (1); and
(B)
publish and make publicly available a summary of such aggregated information.
(e) Review
Beginning 5 years after the date of the enactment of this section and every 5 years thereafter, the Secretary shall—
(1)
aggregate the information included in the annual reports submitted under subsection (d); and
(2)
evaluate such aggregated information to identify any recurring effects on transportation and groundwater resources.
(f) Rulemaking
The Secretary may issue such regulations as are necessary to carry out this section, including procedures and criteria with respect to—
(1)
the analysis required to be submitted to the Secretary under subsection (a)(1)(A)(i)(IV); and
(2)
ensuring the consistency of qualifying projects with applicable State and local requirements.
(g) Rule of construction
Nothing in this section may be construed to duplicate or supersede—
(1)
the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.); or
(2)
applicable State permitting processes.
(h) Definitions
In this section:
(1) Areas of critical environmental concern
The term areas of critical environmental concern has the meaning given the term in section 103 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702).
(2) Mineral materials
The term mineral materials means mineral materials as the term is used in section 1 of the Act of July 31, 1947 (30 U.S.C. 601; commonly known as the Materials Act of 1947
).
(3) Qualifying project
The term qualifying project means a project to extract mineral materials that—
(A)
is located—
(i)
within 25 miles of an urbanized area; or
(ii)
within or adjacent to areas of critical environmental concern, as determined by the Secretary;
(B)
is projected by the person carrying out the project or determined by the Secretary to be expected to produce more than 1 million tons of mineral materials in any 1-year period; and
(C)
has not begun commercial extraction of mineral materials before the date of the enactment of this section.
(4) Secretary
The term Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior.
(5) Urbanized area
The term urbanized area means an area designated as such by the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the Director of the United States Census Bureau.