A bill to ensure domestic sources of the critical mineral vanadium necessary for the steel, infrastructure, energy, and defense needs of the United States, and for other purposes.

Sponsor: Jon Husted (Republican-OH)February 12, 2026

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Introduced

In Committee

Passed One Chamber

Passed Both Chambers

Signed into Law

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.

New rules would make it easier to recycle used refinery materials to get a key mineral for US industries.

This bill would require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to create new rules. These rules would make it simpler for companies to recycle used materials from oil refineries. These materials contain vanadium, a critical mineral needed for making steel, building infrastructure, and for defense. The changes would reduce regulatory steps for recyclers, aiming to boost domestic supply and lessen reliance on foreign sources.

What Would Change

Today, facilities that recover vanadium from used oil refinery materials are currently subject to specific hazardous waste rules. These include Boilers and Industrial Furnaces (BIF) requirements under the Solid Waste Disposal Act. While some exclusions exist, the rules can be complex. After this bill, the EPA would be required to issue new rules that expressly exempt these recycling facilities from the BIF requirements. This would simplify the regulatory process for recovering vanadium and other metals. It would also clarify how companies can send these materials to third parties for recycling.

Key Provisions

Requires the EPA to create new rules. These rules would expressly exempt facilities that recover valuable metals, like vanadium, from used oil refinery catalysts from certain hazardous waste requirements.
Clarifies that this exemption would apply to various types of recycling equipment, including roasters and furnaces.
Clarifies that companies can use an existing rule to send used petroleum catalysts to other facilities for metals recovery.
Makes the new EPA rules take effect immediately once they are published.
Allows the EPA to issue these new rules without the usual public notice and comment period.

View on Congress.gov

S 3879 · 119th Congress · February 12, 2026 · AI Summary by gemini-2.5-flash · 6/10

A bill to ensure domestic sources of the critical mineral vanadium necessary for the steel, infrastructure, energy, and defense needs of the United States, and for other purposes.

What Would Change

Key Provisions

Lobbying Activity