President Joe Biden has made two commitments on green energy. One is to dramatically increase the use of green tech like electric vehicles (EVs), windmills and solar power. The other is to build that new tech here in America.
“There is simply no reason why the blades for wind turbines can’t be built in Pittsburgh instead of Beijing,” Biden said during his State of the Union address. And he wants half of all new cars sold in 2030 to be EVs, too. But there;s at least one reason why these products can’t be built in America: Minerals. Production of green tech, like batteries for EVs, relies heavily on minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and copper.
“Currently, the United States is 100 percent dependent on imports of 17 key minerals,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, said at a March 31 hearing. “We are over 50 percent dependent on imports of another 30 minerals.”
The solution, said Ashley Burke, senior vice president for communications at National Mining Association (NMA), is to increase domestic production. “When you talk about made in America, those materials and those things that are made in America should also be mined in America as well,” Burke said.
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