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Biden’s Climate Day Confronts A Tricky Question: What Should We Do About Mining?

The Rio Tinto borates mine in Boron, California. (Patrick Fallon / Reuters)
The Rio Tinto borates mine in Boron, California. (Patrick Fallon / Reuters)

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden signed a series of executive orders that paused new oil and gas leasing on federal lands, directed the government’s international financing entities to phase out funding for fossil fuel projects overseas, and created a Civilian Climate Corps.

Biden’s special climate envoy, John Kerry, met the usual climate obstructionist talking points with clear, confident responses at a White House press briefing.

But on the same day, in the Senate confirmation hearing for Energy Secretary nominee Jennifer Granholm, a more complex side of the clean energy revolution was under discussion: mining. Granholm repeatedly said that she supports ramping up U.S. mining to help meet the demand for raw materials required to make the batteries that power electric vehicles and store renewable electricity.

“We are missing a massive opportunity for our own security, but also for a market for our trading partners who may want to have access to minerals that are produced in a responsible way,” Granholm, the former Michigan governor, told the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. “We know we can mine in a responsible way.”

At one point, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) pressed Granholm for a commitment that she would follow the law passed in December to set up a $75 million strategic uranium reserve, which would boost domestic mining of uranium.

“I will certainly act upon the instructions of Congress,” Granholm said.

But the bigger question, which the Republicans who asked about mining ignored, is how and to what extent the Department of Energy might go about encouraging the mining of materials needed for green technology. Minerals such as cobalt, nickel, lithium and rare earths are scarcely mined in the U.S. now, and the protections for the workers and communities where they’re produced are weak.

Jennifer Granholm, President Joe Biden's nominee for secretary of energy, testified at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in Washington on Jan. 27. (Pool via Getty Images)
Jennifer Granholm, President Joe Biden's nominee for secretary of energy, testified at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in Washington on Jan. 27. (Pool via Getty Images)

Cobalt production fell 52% from 2015 to 2019 as imports for consumption increased, U.S. Geological Survey data show. Production...

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