1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Responsible Use of Seafloor Resources Act of 2024 . 2. Seafloor resource exploration and exploitation (a) Findings Congress finds the following: (1) The United States is falling behind in competitiveness within supply chains for critical defense and clean energy technologies and therefore must develop an alternative supply of critical minerals to lessen dependance on foreign adversaries. (2) Establishing a secure and resilient critical mineral supply chain is a matter of national security. (3) China controls roughly 60 percent of the global critical mineral production and over 85 percent of the world’s refining capacity. (4) This has been achieved by early and aggressive investment in mining and processing operations across South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. (5) Recognizing the potential of marine resources to further its position, China is increasing its investment in deep-sea mining, holding the most exploration contracts of any country. (6) Investing in alternatives serving to diversify supply such as the collection of seafloor nodules is integral to ensuring the United States does not continue its over-dependence on China and other adversarial nations. (7) As mining has been largely outsourced to other parts of the world, China has become the top producer of 30 of the 50 U.S. critical minerals. With this shift, the governance of environmental and social impacts of mining and processing operations is largely out of the control of the United States. (8) Prioritizing supply with existing or potential for transparent, accountable, and responsible sourcing is integral to ensuring the United States does not continue to export adverse environmental and social (ESG) impacts of mining and processing abroad in countries that are apathetic or less equipped to abide by internationally accepted standards. (9) Investing in the development of mineral resources and processing infrastructure quantitatively proven to reduce ESG impacts, such as seafloor nodules, is integral