Commentary
Last month, President Biden began his tour of America’s electric vehicle supply chain, which brought him to Minnesota. While here, he talked about those who would love to “cede [the] clean energy future to China” and “make us dependent on overseas supply chains ... and weaken energy security”—a curious statement provided our current EV supply chain begins with child labor in the Congo and continues through China.
Since 1884, Minnesota’s miners have supplied record amounts of minerals that make up the products we’ve come to love and rely on—from automobiles and appliances to the girders in our bridges and our wind turbines. In 2022, Minnesota ranked
5th in the nation in mineral production, supplying over
85 percent of our country’s iron ore. Our state also has manganese, copper, nickel, and titanium in mineable quantities, according to the Department of Natural Resources.
Yet, copper and nickel mining has been the focus of intense opposition by anti-development groups and politicians that would rather see mining performed in foreign countries with abysmal protections for workers and even fewer for the environment.
Our state, however, has even more to offer. The U.S. Geological Survey has identified Minnesota as having one of the
largest cobalt resources in the United States. This is great news since cobalt is an essential mineral used in renewable energy, electronics, automobiles, agriculture, and manufacturing.
Unfortunately, many Americans, and seemingly a fair number of our elected officials, are unaware of the connection between American mining and the vital need for minerals that will be used in new technologies as part of our energy evolution. And, that evolution will create an unprecedented demand for these minerals due to policies that mandate the increased production of electric vehicles, renewable energy generation, and utility-scale storage—minerals that can be responsibly developed here in Minnesota.
The
International Energy Agency identified clean energy technologies as significantly driving an increase in the demand for minerals. Electric vehicles require six times the amount of minerals than traditional cars and wind turbines require nine times more minerals than natural gas power plants. Over the next two decades, achieving the goals laid out in the Paris Accords will require a 40 percent increase in copper and rare earth minerals and a 60–70 percent increase in nickel and cobalt production.
Yet, the headwinds coming from Washington, D.C., and anti-development activists are putting Minnesota, and the United States, at a strategic disadvantage that comes with dire consequences.
Last January, the Biden administration
capriciously canceled leases for copper and nickel mining that have been held for more than 50 years. Fast forward just 12 months, and the administration paused mineral leasing on over 200,000 acres of land in the Boundary Waters, seeking a
20-year prohibition on mining which it
enacted in January. Meanwhile, activist groups continue launching
lawsuits with the ultimate goal of ending mining altogether, as opposed to ensuring a thorough and fair permitting process.
The simple truth is, without American mining, our country’s energy evolution will be forced to source minerals from unfriendly nations that lack our robust regulations and safeguards—for both workers and the environment. This allows countries like China to control the mining, processing, and refining of at least
32 of the 50 minerals tracked by the U.S. Geological Survey. This also takes millions of metric tons of minerals off the table for our allies as well.
If the pandemic has taught us anything, it should be that reliance on extended supply chains, especially those under the control of hostile actors, is a vulnerability we cannot and must not tolerate. We have the best workforce, the best technology, and the best record of environmental sustainability to mine the critical minerals necessary to secure our future from the ground up, right here in Minnesota.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
