The article in the url below makes the case for reviving mining in the U.S. for the key raw materials required to transition to a more sustainable energy industry:
"Although America has abundant deposits of many of the critical minerals that go into our vehicles, electronics and buildings, these materials are mostly mined abroad in poorer nations where labor is cheap (or worse, workers are enslaved) and environmental laws are more permissive, rarely enforced or easily sidestepped with bribes."
The argument is that, by outsourcing much of this extraction, we currently focus on poorer societies where the materials can be mined more cheaply, primarily because the standards to do so are so low:
"The decline of domestic mining means that Americans are outsourcing the environmental and social costs of our inexpensive consumer goods to lower-income nations. More than 70 percent of the world's cobalt, sometimes called the blood diamond of electric vehicle batteries, comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where child labor and sexual violence are rampant in mines. About half of the world's nickel, another key ingredient in electric vehicle batteries, comes from mines in Indonesia, some of which have wiped out almost 200,000 acres of rainforest amid allegations of operating illegally on Indigenous land."
So, mining domestically would introduce higher standards, by definition; it is also required so that increased supply can match growing demand:
"A United Nations study found that meeting international climate goals by 2030 could require building as many as 80 copper mines, 70 lithium mines and 70 nickel mines to supply the materials for electric vehicles, solar panels and a host of other low-carbon technologies."
And, the article advocates for a consumer-led component to the economic equation, with individual customers willing to pay the (relatively) small premium that domestic production would generate:
"Many of us are already paying more for responsibly sourced goods, such as chocolate and coffee. We should demand the same for our smartphones and batteries. … Although mining will never be zero-impact, it has the potential to be fair and responsible."
Take care
David
David Chandler
© Sage Publications, 2023
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This Dirty Industry Is Better Off Operating in America
By Stephen Lezak
July 28, 2024
The New York Times
Late Edition – Final
SR8
