November 4, 2026
The Honorable Jeffrey Kessler
Under Secretary for Industry and Security
Bureau of Industry and Security
U.S. Department of Commerce
1401 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20230
Dear Under Secretary Kessler:
The Responsible Battery Coalition (RBC) appreciates the opportunity to comment on the temporary final rule issued by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) establishing domestic sales requirements for black mass and tungsten waste and scrap and requesting public comment on whether additional sales requirements may be necessary or appropriate to promote the national defense.
The RBC is a coalition of companies, academics, and organizations committed to the responsible management of the batteries of today and tomorrow. Founded in 2017, the RBC advances the responsible production, transport, sale, use, reuse, recycling, and resource recovery of transportation, industrial, and stationary batteries, as well as other energy storage devices. RBC’s diverse membership represents the entire battery lifecycle and includes the world’s leading battery manufacturers, recyclers, automotive fleet management, automotive retail, and original equipment manufacturers. For more information: https://www.responsiblebatterycoalition.org/.
The RBC commends the Administration for recognizing the growing importance of recycling and recoverable materials to U.S. economic security, industrial competitiveness, and national defense, as reflected in the July 30, 2026, Presidential Determination on Recoverable Critical Minerals and Materials. The subsequent BIS rule appropriately recognizes that recyclable materials generated in the United States can serve as strategic feedstocks for domestic processing, manufacturing, and critical mineral and material supply chains.
The United States is not resource-poor, but it remains constrained in key areas of refining, processing, and chemical conversion. When recovered battery materials and manufacturing scrap are exported to foreign processors and the resulting refined products are later imported, the United States forfeits feedstock, processing value, supply chain visibility, and industrial capacity. Recycling policy should therefore be treated as an integral element of critical minerals and national defense policy.
The RBC supports the framework established by the temporary final rule as a potentially useful model for cases in which exports of recoverable minerals and materials significantly impair domestic recycling or manufacturing capacity. At the same time, any potential extension or expansion of the framework should account for the characteristics of the specific mineral and/or material stream, demonstrated domestic demand and capacity, established regional supply chains, and the need to preserve the economic incentives that make collection and recycling successful.
Accordingly, RBC recommends that BIS:
The RBC and Coalition for a Prosperous America report, Wartime Footing: How the United States Can Reverse China’s Dominance of Battery Minerals Processing (March 2026), recommends treating recovered batteries, manufacturing scrap, and other secondary materials as strategic feedstocks rather than merely as waste streams. Collecting and processing these materials can provide domestic sources of materials that would otherwise be exposed to foreign refining and processing concentration. This is particularly important for materials with limited substitutes or when domestic production and processing are insufficient to meet national defense and industrial demand.
Lead batteries illustrate this principle. Recycled lead is a key input for new batteries used in transportation, telecommunications, data centers, backup power systems, military applications, and other essential sectors. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, in 2025, secondary lead (recycled lead) met 70 percent of domestic production, and nearly all of that secondary lead came from recycled batteries. Spent lead-acid batteries also contain recoverable antimony and tin, making the lead battery circular economy relevant not only to lead supply but also to the availability of other critical minerals.
Wartime Footing identifies refining and chemical conversion as critical supply chain chokepoints. The report estimates that China refines about 73 percent of global cobalt, 68 percent of nickel, and 59 percent of lithium. This concentration underscores the need to rebuild domestic and allied processing capacity to counter these chokepoints.
Restrictions, disruptions, or market control at the processing stage can create acute vulnerabilities, even when raw materials are available elsewhere, and these vulnerabilities can spread rapidly into U.S. manufacturing sectors. For example, when China restricted antimony exports to the United States in 2024–2025, global exports fell to roughly one-third of prior levels, and prices rose to more than four times their historical average.
As BIS considers whether additional minerals or materials warrant similar treatment, RBC encourages the agency to examine the case for spent lead-acid batteries (SLABs) and other lead-, antimony-, and tin-bearing battery scrap, including the impact of exports on the North American lead-acid battery market. The lead battery sector has developed a mature network for collection, transportation, recycling, and remanufacturing that returns recovered minerals and materials to productive use. That system supports domestic manufacturing and helps reduce dependence on imported primary and refined minerals and materials.
BCI’s latest U.S. Recycling Rate Study, published in July 2026 and covering 2020–2024, reports a recycling rate of approximately 98 percent, with the 10-year average remaining above 99 percent. During 2020–2024, U.S. lead battery recyclers recovered more than 11 billion pounds of lead. Annually, they recycle more than 174 million lead batteries and return over 2.2 billion pounds of lead to the domestic battery manufacturing supply chain.
These recovered lead, antimony, and tin streams warrant further evaluation as BIS considers materials beyond black mass and tungsten waste and scrap. Any new requirement should strengthen access to recycled feedstocks without undermining the collection and processing network described below.
Unlike some emerging recycling streams, the lead battery industry already operates a mature, highly integrated recycling system with substantial processing capacity and longstanding commercial relationships. A requirement designed for an emerging market should not be mechanically transferred to this sector. An inflexible restriction could:
BIS should therefore link any domestic sales requirement to demonstrated domestic demand and responsible processing capacity, while providing a mechanism to qualify regional flows when North American capacity is needed. Requirements should preserve collection incentives and avoid bottlenecks that leave recyclable materials stranded or underutilized. BIS should retain authority to adjust requirements when material cannot be processed responsibly and economically within the relevant market.
The United States benefits from an integrated North American circular economy for lead batteries. Efficient trade among the United States, Canada, and Mexico supports collection, capacity utilization, remanufacturing, and regional supply chain security. BIS should avoid a design that unintentionally disrupts responsible flows in this system or that treats all exports as posing the same policy concern.
According to the latest BCI report, domestic battery recycling streams supply roughly 70 percent of annual U.S. lead demand. With Canadian and Mexican recyclers, the North American system meets more than 83 percent of regional demand. This “Fortress North America” approach supports a strong regional supply chain that benefits domestic industry. These demand shares are distinct from the capacity required to recycle all SLABs generated in the United States. The U.S. recycling industry lacks the capacity to recycle all domestically generated SLABs in a given year. Although an export restriction could encourage investment in additional capacity, that capacity would take years to develop. Without interim flexibility for responsible regional flows, a restriction could disrupt the circular economy’s economics and adversely affect domestic battery manufacturing before new capacity becomes available.
If BIS applies an allocation requirement to SLABs or related materials, it should establish a generally applicable mechanism to qualify North American transactions that support U.S. supply chain security. Qualification should depend on a documented chain of custody, verified environmental and worker-protection performance, ownership and control information, and return or end-use commitments where appropriate. These safeguards should ensure responsible processing rather than diversion to an adversary-controlled supply chain; location within North America alone should not establish eligibility.
BIS should also consider whether exporting SLABs enables recycling in jurisdictions or facilities with weaker environmental, health, and safety requirements or less effective enforcement. When processors avoid the costs of adequate emissions controls, worker protections, and sound waste management, lower-priced recovered material may reflect shifted environmental and community costs rather than genuine operating efficiency. That dynamic can disadvantage responsible recyclers and battery manufacturers that invest in appropriate safeguards.
Destination-country law, enforcement, receiving-facility controls, worker protections, beneficial ownership, and actual operating practices should be evaluated. Particular scrutiny may be appropriate for destinations outside North America and for non-Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) destinations, but geography or OECD membership should not substitute for demonstrated responsible recycling performance. Measures should target unsafe practices and regulatory cost avoidance while preserving responsible regional recycling relationships.
The current definition of black mass focuses on shredded lithium-ion battery scrap. BIS should evaluate whether intact end-of-life cells, modules, and packs; electrode and battery manufacturing scrap; and materials immediately upstream or downstream of black mass can be relabeled, reclassified, or minimally processed to avoid the order. Classification guidance and appropriate coverage of functionally equivalent feedstocks could help ensure that the rule protects the materials needed by domestic recyclers without capturing products that do not pose the same policy concern.
Physical location alone may not establish that a sale advances domestic supply chain security. BIS should assess whether sales to U.S.-located entities owned or controlled by a foreign entity of concern, or sales followed by export or transfer to an adversary-controlled processor, meet the policy objective of the domestic sales requirement. Appropriate buyer certifications regarding ownership, control, intended processing, and end use could improve transparency and reduce opportunities for circumvention.
The RBC supports the rule’s adjustment and exception authorities. These provisions are essential for aligning national security objectives with commercial and processing realities. BIS should:
Retention requirements can achieve their objective only if responsible processors can receive and process the material. BIS should coordinate with the Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies to ensure that retained material does not face avoidable storage, accumulation, transportation, or permitting barriers as domestic capacity develops. The Administration should also align the order with appropriate Defense Production Act, Department of Energy, procurement, financing, tax, and permitting tools that support processing investment and durable demand for domestically recovered content.
BIS should periodically review domestic processing capacity, utilization, collection rates, recycling volumes, manufacturing costs, logistics constraints, and market demand. These reviews should inform adjustments, material coverage, and the continuation or modification of requirements.
Processing facilities require substantial capital and long development timelines. BIS should communicate well in advance of the rule’s expiration how it intends to evaluate continuation, modification, or extension. A predictable review process, tied to evidence on domestic capacity and market conditions, would reduce uncertainty near the expiration date.
BIS should use information collected under the applicable Office of Management and Budget control number to identify capacity gaps, assess market impacts, and administer adjustments. Reporting should be limited to information necessary for those purposes, coordinated to avoid duplicate submissions, and protected as business confidential information.
Before imposing new requirements, BIS should consult recyclers, manufacturers, battery producers, collectors, transporters, downstream users, environmental agencies, and other affected stakeholders.
RBC appreciates BIS’s leadership in recognizing the strategic importance of recoverable critical minerals and materials. The rule provides a constructive framework for evaluating how recyclable materials can contribute to national defense, industrial resilience, and manufacturing competitiveness.
RBC encourages BIS to evaluate SLABs and other lead-, antimony-, and tin-bearing battery materials using a capacity-based approach that preserves responsible North American flows. Any expansion should address unsafe or distortive offshore practices, strengthen domestic processing, and maintain the incentives that sustain collection and recycling.
RBC welcomes continued engagement with BIS and would be pleased to provide additional information from its members concerning material flows, processing capacity, environmental performance, ownership and control, and market impacts.
Respectfully submitted,
Steve Christensen
Executive Director
Responsible Battery Coalition
