Biden Official Has Painful Response When Asked Who the Largest Producer of Key Materials for EVs Is

The top official in charge of the department that has a hand in mining permits for crucial minerals used in lithium-ion batteries is apparently unaware of what country dominates the production of those materials…

Bradley CortrightMay 2, 20233 min read

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The senator said, “In all of these instances… your decision to trade off our energy security in favor of a radical climate change agenda is making us more and more dependent on China.”

He noted the Interior Department withdrew 225,504 acres in the Superior National Forest in Minnesota from consideration for new mine leasing. The Washington Examiner noted in January the move will have the effect of “cutting off the mineral-rich area from future development and likely killing a major mining project in the works.”

The forest happens to include the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, which is a popular destination for hikers.

In a statement, Haaland said, “Protecting a place like Boundary Waters is key to supporting the health of the watershed and its surrounding wildlife, upholding our Tribal trust and treaty responsibilities, and boosting the local recreation economy.”

The Institute for Energy Research noted a major project was planned in the area to mine crucial minerals such as copper, nickel, and cobalt. Additionally, it stated 88% of the United States’ cobalt reserves are found in the Superior National Forest.

Trying to protect our nation’s wildlife and be good stewards of nature are goals we should be striving for.

But these minerals are coming out of the ground one way or the other. And they are being used to help make electric vehicles, which green energy advocates argue will help protect the environment.

And after the supply chain issues we saw in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Russia threatening to cut off energy supplies to Europe, it is pretty clear that becoming reliant on adversarial countries for key materials can put us in a world of hurt.

So if the U.S. wants to transition to EVs, it should be trying to ramp up domestic mining for minerals used in EV production to ensure it is not entirely reliant on China.

At the very least, if you are going to block domestic mining due to environmental concerns here, you should at least be honest about what the trade-off is. In this case, China is dominating the supply chains for materials used to build electric vehicles and the U.S. largely is dependent on it for those minerals.