42 U.S.C. § 18741 — Battery processing and manufacturing

(a) Definitions
"Advanced battery" means a battery made of a battery cell that can be built into a module, pack, or system for storing energy -- including in electric vehicles and the power grid. "Advanced battery component" means a part of an advanced battery, including materials, protective enhancements, enclosures, anodes, cathodes, electrolytes, cells, and other technologies that make it up. "Battery material" means the raw or processed mineral, metal, chemical, or other material used in an advanced battery component. "Eligible entity" means an entity described in paragraphs (1) through (5) of section 16353(b) of this title. "Foreign entity of concern" means a foreign entity that: is designated a foreign terrorist organization by the Secretary^* of State^*; is on the Treasury Department's list of specially designated nationals and blocked persons (the "SDN list"); is owned, controlled, or directed by the government of a "covered nation" (defined in section 2533c(d) of title 10); has been alleged by the Attorney General to have been convicted under the Espionage Act, sections 951 or 1030 of title 18, the Economic Espionage Act of 1996, the Arms Export Control Act, listed sections of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, the Export Control Reform Act of 2018, or the International Emergency Economic Powers Act; or is determined by the Secretary -- after consulting the Secretary of Defense and the Director^* of National Intelligence -- to be engaged in unauthorized conduct harmful to U.S. national security or foreign policy. "Manufacturing" means the industrial and chemical steps used to make an advanced battery or component. "Processing" means refining battery material -- treating, baking, and coating raw materials into the materials used directly to make advanced batteries. "Recycling" means recovering materials from advanced batteries to reuse in similar products, including extracting, processing, and recoating battery materials and components.

(b) Battery material processing grants
Within 180 days of November 15, 2021, the Secretary must create the "Battery Material Processing Grant Program" inside the Office of Fossil Energy. Its purposes are: to make sure the U.S. has a working battery-materials-processing industry for the North American supply chain; to grow U.S. capability in advanced battery manufacturing; to strengthen national security by relying less on foreign competitors for critical materials and technology; and to expand U.S. processing capacity for minerals needed for batteries.

The Secretary must award grants to eligible entities to: run demonstration projects in the U.S. for processing battery materials; build new large-scale battery-material-processing facilities in the U.S.; or retool, retrofit, or expand existing qualified processing facilities in the U.S. Grants must be at least $50,000,000 for a demonstration project^*, $100,000,000 for a new facility, or $50,000,000 for retooling an existing facility. The Secretary must give priority to entities that are located and operate in the U.S., are U.S.-owned, use North American-owned intellectual property and content, represent consortia or industry partnerships, and won't use battery material from a foreign entity of concern -- and must also consider whether a project creates jobs in low- and moderate-income communities, partners with universities and labs to spur innovation and cut costs, partners with Indian Tribes, and accounts for greenhouse gas reductions, energy-efficient processing, and supply-chain logistics.

Congress may give the Secretary $3,000,000,000 for this program for fiscal years 2022 through 2026, available until spent.

(c) Battery manufacturing and recycling grants
Within 180 days of November 15, 2021, the Secretary must also create a battery manufacturing and recycling grant program inside the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, to ensure the U.S. has real domestic manufacturing and recycling capacity supporting the North American battery supply chain.

The Secretary must award grants to eligible entities to: run demonstration projects for making advanced battery components, advanced batteries, or recycling them; build new large-scale manufacturing or recycling facilities in the U.S.; or retool, retrofit, or expand existing qualified U.S. facilities for these purposes. Grant minimums match subsection (b): $50,000,000 for demonstration projects, $100,000,000 for new facilities, $50,000,000 for retooling. Priority again goes to entities that are U.S.-based and U.S.-owned, use North American intellectual property, and represent partnerships -- and, depending on whether the grant is for making components or for recycling, that won't use material from a foreign entity of concern or won't export recovered critical materials to one. The Secretary must also consider job creation in low-income, rural, or fossil-fuel-job-loss communities, partnerships with universities, labs, and Indian Tribes, greenhouse gas and supply-chain factors, and whether the project uses feedstock made in the U.S.

Congress may give the Secretary $3,000,000,000 for this program for fiscal years 2022 through 2026, available until spent.

(d) Reporting requirements
Starting one year after November 15, 2021, and every year after, the Secretary must report to Congress on both grant programs -- how many applications came in, how many grants were awarded and for how much, the purpose and status of each funded project, and anything else the Secretary thinks Congress should know.

(e) Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Prize Competition
The Secretary must keep running the Department's existing Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Prize Competition (created under section 3719 of title 15). Congress may give the Secretary $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2022, available until spent, to fund Phase III pilot projects of the competition. The Secretary may use this money to add more Phase III winners, increase the prize each winner gets, or fund other activities supporting Phase III's goals.

(f) Battery and critical mineral recycling
Definitions for this subsection: "Administrator" means the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. A "battery" is a device made of one or more connected electrochemical cells that stores and delivers electricity. A "battery producer" is, for a covered battery or covered battery-containing product that is sold, offered for sale, or distributed for sale in the United States, including through retail, wholesale, business-to-business, and online sale: first, the person who makes it and sells or offers it for sale under that person's own brand; if there is no such person, the owner^* or licensee of the brand under which it is sold, offered for sale, or distributed, whether or not the brand's trademark is registered; and if neither exists, the person who imports it into the United States for sale or distribution. A "covered battery" is a new or unused primary or rechargeable battery. A "covered battery-containing product" is a new or unused product that contains or is packaged with such a battery. "Critical mineral" has the meaning given in section 1606(a) of title 30. A "primary battery" is a non-rechargeable battery weighing no more than 4.4 pounds, such as alkaline, carbon-zinc, or lithium metal batteries. A "rechargeable battery" has one or more connected voltaic or galvanic cells, is designed to be recharged, weighs no more than 11 pounds, and has a rating of no more than 300 watt-hours -- but this does not include a battery with free-liquid electrolyte, or a lead-acid battery unless it is sealed with no free-liquid electrolyte. "Recycling" means the activities that turn recyclable materials into specification-grade commodities used as raw-material feedstock instead of virgin material -- which may include collecting, processing, and brokering the materials -- ending in their use by a materials manufacturer, including to make new products.

The Secretary, working with the EPA Administrator, must award multiyear grants to eligible entities for research and development projects that find practical ways to increase battery reuse and recycling. These projects can cover: recycling activities; designing batteries that are easier to take apart, reuse, recover, and recycle; ways to get consumers to accept and take part in battery recycling; extracting or recovering critical minerals from recycled batteries; building markets for recycled battery materials and critical minerals; safely disposing of recycling waste; protecting the health and safety of people who do recycling work or live near recycling facilities; reducing recycling's environmental impact, including disposal of toxic byproducts; protecting the data privacy of collected battery-containing products; getting the most value out of recycled material; and studying the costs and benefits of battery and critical-mineral reuse and recycling. Grants may go to institutions of higher education, National Laboratories, federal or state research agencies, nonprofits, industrial or manufacturing entities, private battery-collection companies, battery recyclers, state or municipal governments, battery producers, battery retailers, or a group of any of these. An applicant must describe how its project will get battery producers, manufacturers, material and equipment makers, recyclers, collectors, refiners, and retailers to work together. Congress may give the Secretary $60,000,000 for this program for fiscal years 2022 through 2026.

The Secretary, with the EPA Administrator, must also run a competitive grant program helping states and local governments start or improve battery collection, recycling, and reprocessing programs; the state or local government must cover 50 percent of a funded project's cost itself. Starting two years after November 15, 2021, and every year after, the Secretary must report to Congress on how many collection points were created or improved, an estimate of jobs created, and how much material was collected. Congress may give the Secretary $50,000,000 for this program for fiscal years 2022 through 2026.

The Secretary must award competitive grants to retailers that sell covered batteries or covered battery-containing products, so they can build systems to collect these items for reuse, recycling, or safe disposal. The collection system must take back batteries at no cost to the customer, on a regular and convenient basis. Congress may give the Secretary $15,000,000 for this program for fiscal years 2022 through 2026.

The Secretary, with the EPA Administrator, must bring together a task force to design an "extended battery producer responsibility" framework. That framework must cover recycling goals, cost structures for mandatory recycling, reporting rules, product design, collection models, and transporting collected materials; it must give battery producers flexibility to choose their own cost-effective way to comply; and it must lay out possible paths to regulation. The task force must include battery producers, manufacturers, retailers, recyclers, collectors, states, municipalities, and other stakeholders like environmental, energy, or consumer groups. Within one year of the task force convening, the Secretary must report to Congress describing the framework, the task force's recommendations on requiring producers to pay into recycling, and possible regulatory paths.

Nothing in this subsection changes the Mercury-Containing and Rechargeable Battery Management Act.