Lawmakers urge U.S. Treasury to allow critical mining tax credits

A group of nine U.S. senators, including Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), recently sent a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, urging the Biden Administration to allow critical mineral mining and processing activities to qualify for tax credits

“Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act in part to support the domestic extraction and production of critical minerals and materials,” the letter said. “The clear purpose of section 45X was to encourage investment in the United States and to build a reliable and resilient domestic supply chain for critical minerals right here at home. The section 45X credit was designed to support responsible domestic mining and processing of these minerals… However, by excluding the majority of the production costs from the 45X credit, Treasury would disincentivize investment in the United States, and also increase our reliance on countries that do not share our democratic or geopolitical values.”

Currently, the agency’s proposal to implement the credit explicitly excludes raw materials and extraction. Allowing the tax credit will support the entirety of the clean energy supply chain, the lawmakers said.

In 2023, Casey secured a $2.1 million grant for Pennsylvania State University to research the process of recovering critical minerals from acid mine drainage.