Ryan Sistad, of Duluth, is outreach coordinator for Better in Our Backyard. https://www.betterinourbackyard.com/
Supply and demand are subject to change — unpredictable change in policies or in the marketplace — which makes it incredibly important to have a plan in place to supply our economy with what it needs to grow and thrive.
When it comes to transitioning to a reduced-carbon or carbon-free energy economy, Minnesota is truly faced with this new supply and demand challenge. All of this makes the question asked Jan. 23 in “We don’t need more mining to go green” confusing.
The author asks: “[I]s it actually urgent to pull more copper and nickel out of the ground?” He then claims that in debates over mining copper and nickel in Minnesota “what goes largely undiscussed are the actual supply and demand forces around primary copper and nickel.”
But we can’t ignore what, to some, is an uncomfortable reality: Our state is connected to both sides of the supply and demand balance for copper and nickel, and other important metals like cobalt and palladium.
Minnesota has set an aggressive goal to make the state carbon-free by 2050 in terms of the energy we depend on every day. Other states are setting different goals but with the same commitment.
For the rest of this column: http://www.startribune.com/counterpoint-why-a-green-world-will-need-more-copper/567404892/