DIVISION TO OVERSEE CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND MINING STUDY

During the 2024 legislative session, House Bill 502 was passed, directing the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining to study critical infrastructure materials operations and related mining to understand Utah's current and future needs better. Critical infrastructure materials are sand, gravel, or rock aggregate, and operations are the extraction, excavation, processing, or reprocessing of those materials.

The study focuses on three different groups of Utah counties that are classified based on population:

Class one: Over 1,000,000 (Salt Lake County)

Class two: 175,000-999,999 (Cache, Weber, Davis, Utah, Washington counties)

Class three: 40,000-174,999 (Box Elder, Tooele, Summit, Uintah, Iron counties)

Due to the time demand on staff and the November deadline, the decision was made to hire a third-party consultant with specialized expertise and skills to conduct the study.

Timeline:

March 2024 HB 502 language finalized by Utah legislature
05/01/2024 Funds received to initiate study
05/16/2024 Bidding opened for consultants
05/30/2024 Bidding closed - two bids received
06/19/2024 Contract awarded to Stantec
July 2024 Planning meeting held with Stantec and first stakeholder group to begin communications plan recommended in the bill.
July, Aug., Sept. 2024 Additional stakeholder meetings were held with the following:

Date	Time	Meeting
06/19/2024	11:00 a.m.	Critical Infrastructure Materials Industry and Related Mining Industry
07/30/2024	2:00 p.m.	HB-502 Utah Critical Infrastructure Materials Study Information Meeting-all parties invited
08/01/2024	2:00 p.m.	HB-502 Utah Critical Infrastructure Materials Study Information Meeting-all parties invited
08/13/2024	2:00 p.m.	Cache County and Local Municipalities
08/14/2024	9:00 a.m.	Iron County and Local Municipalities
08/15/2024	9:00 a.m.	Summit County and Local Municipalities
08/20/2024	2:00 p.m.	Tooele County and Local Municipalities
08/21/2024	9:00 a.m.	Utah County and Local Municipalities
08/21/2024	11:00 a.m.	Critical Infrastructure Materials Industry and Related Mining Industry
08/21/2024	2:00 p.m.	Washington County and Local Municipalities
08/21/2024	3:30 p.m.	Salt Lake County and Local Municipalities
08/22/2024	9:00 a.m.	Box Elder County and Local Municipalities
08/22/2024	2:00 p.m.	Weber County and Local Municipalities
08/27/2024	9:00 a.m.	Davis County and Local Municipalities
08/27/2024	2:00 p.m.	Uintah County and Local Municipalities
08/28/2024	10:00 a.m.	Utah League of Cities and Towns
8/29/2024	10:00 a.m.	Utah Tax Commission
9/10/2024	3:00 p.m.	Utah Department of Transportation
9/11/2024	10:00 a.m.	Washington County and Local Municipalities
9/11/2024	1:00 p.m.	Wasatch Front Regional Council
9/11/2024	2:00 p.m.	Uintah County and Local Municipalities
9/13/2024	1:00 p.m.	Five County Association of Governments
9/18/2024	11:00 a.m.	Critical Infrastructure Materials Industry and Related Mining Industry
9/24/2024	1:00 p.m.	Utah Association of Counties
10/1/2024	3:00 p.m.	St. George City
10/3/2024	2:30 p.m.	Utah Division of Air Quality
10/8/2024	3:00 p.m.	Farm Bureau
10/16/2024	11:00 a.m.	Critical infrastructure materials industry and related mining industry

11/18/2024 The division completed the initial findings of the study on critical infrastructure materials and submitted a preliminary report to the Legislature's Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Interim Committee.

Inventory of critical infrastructure materials operations and related mining within the relevant area as of the effective date of this bill, to include:
number and location of critical infrastructure materials operations
levels of production
the extent to which the critical infrastructure materials meet standards used by the Department of Transportation
Inventory of new critical infrastructure materials operations and related mining that may be created by either the establishment of critical infrastructure materials operations or related mining on or after the effective date of this bill or the expansion of existing critical infrastructure materials operations or related mining on or after the effective date of this bill, taking into consideration:
zoning
supply in the market
Assessment of projected future demand for critical infrastructure materials within the relevant area, including:
- effects of residential and commercial development
- known planned projects, such as transportation projects
Analysis of the financial costs of transporting and distributing critical infrastructure materials to and from the relevant area.
Analysis of the impacts of critical infrastructure materials operations and related mining on local infrastructure within the relevant area and possible mitigation of those impacts.
Analysis of the regulatory requirements faced by critical infrastructure materials operations.
Study whether critical infrastructure materials operations should be licensed, permitted, or otherwise authorized or regulated by the division, another state agency, or local government.
Any other issue the division finds relevant to the study of critical infrastructure materials operations and related mining.

01/17/2025 Final report submitted to the Legislature
01/21/2025 Notice from the Legislature that the final report had been reviewed and contains the information required by statute

VIEW FINAL REPORT