To amend the Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands to make that Act applicable to hardrock minerals.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3872 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3872

 To amend the Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands to make that Act
                    applicable to hardrock minerals.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 10, 2025

 Mr. Fallon (for himself and Mr. Moran) introduced the following bill;
        which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 To amend the Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands to make that Act
                    applicable to hardrock minerals.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Mineral Extraction for Renewable
Industry and Critical Applications Act of 2025'' or the ``MERICA Act of
2025''.

SEC. 2. APPLICATION OF MINERAL LEASING ACT FOR ACQUIRED LANDS TO
              HARDROCK MINERALS.

    The Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands (30 U.S.C. 351 et seq.)
is amended--
            (1) in section 2 (30 U.S.C. 351)--
                    (A) by striking ``Act `United States''' and
                inserting the following: ``Act:
            ``(1) United states.--The term `United States''';
                    (B) by striking ``Alaska. `Acquired lands''' and
                inserting the following: ``Alaska.
            ``(2) Acquired lands; lands acquired by the united
        states.--The term `acquired lands''';
                    (C) by striking ``552). ``Secretary'' and inserting
                the following: ``552).
            ``(3) Secretary.--The term `Secretary''';
                    (D) by striking ``Interior. `Mineral leasing laws'
                shall mean'' and inserting the following: ``Interior.
            ``(4) Mineral leasing laws.--The term `mineral leasing
        laws' means'';
                    (E) by striking ``Acts. `Lease''' and inserting the
                following: ``Acts.
            ``(5) Lease.--The term `lease''';
                    (F) by striking ``requires. The term'' and
                inserting the following: ``requires.
            ``(6) Oil.--The term''; and
                    (G) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(7) Hardrock mineral.--The term `hardrock mineral'--
                    ``(A) includes deposits of--
                            ``(i) minerals found in sedimentary or
                        other rocks;
                            ``(ii) base metals;
                            ``(iii) precious metals;
                            ``(iv) industrial metals; and
                            ``(v) precious and semi-precious gemstones;
                        and
                    ``(B) does not include deposits of--
                            ``(i) coal;
                            ``(ii) oil;
                            ``(iii) oil shale;
                            ``(iv) gas;
                            ``(v) sodium;
                            ``(vi) potassium;
                            ``(vii) sulfur; or
                            ``(viii) mineral materials subject to
                        disposition under the Act of July 31, 1947,
                        commonly known as the Materials Act of 1947 (30
                        U.S.C. 601 et seq.).''; and
            (2) in section 3 (30 U.S.C. 352), by striking ``and
        sulfur'' and inserting ``sulfur, and hardrock minerals''.
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