The US Department of Energy has formally designated helium as a critical material under the Energy Act of 2020, citing its irreplaceable role in semiconductor manufacturing and rising global supply risk. US helium output remains constrained by limited refining capacity and long permitting despite significant byproduct resources from natural gas fields in Kansas, Texas, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma, with Kansas’ Hugoton and Greenwood fields and Texas’ Panhandle-Hugoton and Cliffside systems central to supply. The move signals likely policy support for new processing plants, storage caverns and midstream infrastructure.

Sweeping bipartisan US Senate permitting reforms tabled on 30 September would expand NEPA categorical exclusions, cap many NEPA lawsuits at 150 days (down from up to six years under the Administrative Procedure Act), and allow multiple mill sites for waste rock and tailings on eligible federal land under a single plan of operations. The bill would also extend maximum NPDES discharge permit terms from five to 10 years and tighten Endangered Species Act consultation timelines, trading longer regulatory certainty against less frequent re‑openers. For mine developers, the package signals potential compression of approval schedules and litigation risk, but its passage and final form remain highly uncertain.

New South Wales has legislated a Future Jobs and Investment Authority with $29.7 million in ongoing funding and a more than $170 million fund to support jobs, investment and economic development in the Hunter, Illawarra, Central West and North coal regions. The body is tasked with managing coal transition impacts on local economies, signalling long-term structural change for coal mining, coal logistics and associated infrastructure in these basins. Geotechnical, civil and mining contractors in these regions should expect more funding channels for diversification projects, rehabilitation works and non-coal industrial developments.