The U.S. Critical Minerals List: Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Authors

Wesley Peebles, University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law

Abstract

Critical minerals are minerals found essential to economic and national security and vulnerable to supply chain disruptions. Congress and presidents from both political parties have actively promoted critical mineral production, offering up billions of dollars to secure mineral supply chains. The federal government has invested to increase domestic mineral production, grow global partnerships, and reinvigorate U.S. industry in an attempt to reduce the risk of supply disruptions for these valuable minerals. To identify which minerals are critical to the United States, Congress tasked the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), to evaluate and identify a list of critical minerals in the Energy Act of 2020. The list of critical minerals, updated by USGS at least every three years, employs scientific analysis to measure criticality and recommends minerals found most critical for designation on the final list. The list and its underlying evaluation are the primary mechanism by which the U.S. government evaluates the risk of disruption for these valuable mineral commodities. Maintenance of a robust, objective evaluation of minerals is necessary to inform and organize the federal government’s response to supply risk. Recent action from the second Trump administration, including issuance of Executive Orders (EO) 14,154, 14,241, and 14,261, complicate the critical minerals list’s function, risking politicizing the list and confusing which minerals qualify as “critical minerals.” These complications threaten inefficient or unresponsive investments and policies that subsidize preferred minerals over those most likely to cause major disruption to economic or national security.

This Article considers the U.S. critical minerals list in its historical and legal context, examining past and present efforts to identify risk for mineral commodities. In doing so, this Article finds the critical minerals list is important to assessing risk for mineral commodities, informing the government and public, coordinating government-wide action on minerals, and prioritizing the most at-risk minerals for action. Confusion regarding the purpose of the list and competing political priorities threaten to diminish use of the critical minerals list. Thus, this Article recommends clear communication on the use and intent of the list, separation from other mineral and material priority lists, and adherence to the legal and scientific frameworks. Doing so produces a critical minerals list that more accurately measures criticality and provides information valuable in the effort to secure mineral supply chains.

Recommended Citation

Wesley Peebles, The U.S. Critical Minerals List: Between a Rock and a Hard Place, 37 Fordham Envtl. L. Rev. 115 (2026).
Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/elr/vol37/iss1/4