President Biden took steps this week to promote domestic production of critical minerals and metals needed for breakthrough technologies such as electric vehicles, in an effort to reduce America’s reliance on foreign supplies.
Mr. Biden invoked the Defense Production Act, allowing the government to assist in the mining, processing, and recycling of critical commodities such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite, and manganese. These are used in the production of high-capacity batteries for electric vehicles and clean-energy storage systems. They are, however, almost entirely manufactured outside of the United States, with the exception of a few mines and facilities.
The president noted in a decision issued Thursday that the United States relied on “unreliable foreign sources” for numerous minerals essential for the shift to renewable energy use, and that demand for such elements was likely to expand significantly.
“We must eliminate our long-term reliance on China and other countries for inputs that will power the future,” Mr. Biden said at the White House, also announcing the release of one million barrels of oil per day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
The Defense Production Act is a Cold War-era law that gives the president access to finances and other additional powers in order to enhance the American industrial base and ensure the private sector has the resources necessary to defend national security and respond to disasters.
Mr. Biden encouraged his defence secretary to support feasibility studies for new projects, encourage waste reclamation at current sites, and modernise or expand output at domestic lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite, and other so-called vital minerals mines.
According to the presidential determination, the secretary of defence would also conduct a review of the domestic industrial base for important minerals and report back to the president and Congress on the findings.
According to a source familiar with the situation, the acts under consideration would not be loans or direct mineral purchases, but rather funding for studies and the development or modernization of new and existing sites.
According to a White House announcement made on Thursday, the government would also look into potential new uses for the act in the energy sector.
According to the US Geological Survey, in 2020, the US imported more than half of its supply of at least 46 minerals, and all of its supply of 17 of them. Many of the materials are sourced from China, which leads the world in lithium ion battery production and has been known to restrict exports of specific products, such as rare earth minerals, during times of political upheaval.
The Biden administration has warned that relying on foreign commodities jeopardizes America’s security and has pledged to increasing domestic supplies of semiconductors, batteries, and pharmaceuticals, among other products. While the United States contains some undiscovered nickel, cobalt, and other vital minerals and metals reserves, it can take several years to build mines and processing plants.
China controlled or funded 15 of the 19 major mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as of 2020, accounting for two-thirds of global cobalt production.
However, in recent years, there has been bipartisan support for growing American mining and processing of battery components. Senators Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, and Joe Manchin III, a Democrat from West Virginia, proposed invoking the Defense Production Act in a letter to Mr. Biden on March 11 to speed up domestic production of lithium-ion battery materials such as graphite, manganese, cobalt, nickel, and lithium.
Todd M. Malan, head of climate strategy for Talon Metals, which is developing a nickel mine in Minnesota, said Washington had reached a bipartisan agreement to increase support for domestic mining of electric vehicle battery minerals, “driven by concern about reliance on Russia and China for battery materials as well as the energy transition imperative.”
Certain domestic projects, though, may face opposition from environmentalists within Mr. Biden’s own party.
Rep. Raul M. Grijalva, a Democrat from Arizona who chairs the Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement Wednesday that mining companies were “making opportunistic pleas to pursue a decades-old mining strategy that absolves polluters while forcing Americans to suffer the consequences.”
“Fast-tracking mining under outmoded standards that endangers our public health, wilderness, and sacred sites is just not an option,” he added.
Source: New York Times
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