The Department of Energy plans to issue a funding opportunity announcement, or FOA, to advance the formation of coalition teams tasked with developing and implementing strategies that would promote the production of critical minerals and materials and carbon-based products in specific regions across the U.S.
DOE said Thursday the FOA to be released by the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, or FECM, would broaden its focus from the basin scale to a larger regional scale and consider projects in environmental justice and energy transition.
With this funding opportunity, geographical areas of interest include the Eastern Coastal region, Appalachian Mountains, Upper Midwest and Illinois Basin, Alaska and the Pacific Northwest and Great Plains and Interior Highlands.
The coalition teams will be composed of federal, state and local government and tribal personnel and those from industry and academia.
According to DOE, the funding opportunity intends to continue work that began in 2020 under the initial phase of the Carbon Ore, Rare Earth and Critical Minerals initiative, also known as CORE-CM.
CORE-CM seeks to support projects that assess and develop critical minerals and materials from secondary and unconventional feedstocks.
