The Minnesota legislature passed an omnibus environment bill which included a provision to establish a Critical Materials Recovery Advisory Task Force to help bring recycling infrastructure and jobs to the state. The task force will have the responsibility of determining emerging recycling technologies; evaluating recovery costs; and identifying needed infrastructure, end-of-life-management options for products, and ways to prevent the improper disposal of critical materials. The provision had broad support of labor unions and environmental groups and it was included in both the House and Senate versions of the bill. The full omnibus bill now goes to Gov. Walz for his signature.

After passage, the BlueGreen Alliance released the following statement from Minnesota Policy Organizer Abby Hornberger.

“Critical minerals are essential to a clean energy future, particularly for energy storage batteries, EV batteries, wind, and solar components and demand is expected to double by 2040. Bringing critical minerals recovery infrastructure to Minnesota would provide another source of high-road jobs and opportunities for workers around the state. The task force is a step forward to capturing both critical minerals and jobs in our state and we thank Rep. Kozlowski and Sen. Hauschild for championing this effort. We urge Gov. Walz to sign this important provision into law.”