I've been wondering if any of my progressive friends, who support; no, actually demand, most, if not all tenets of the so-called green new deal be implemented immediately are knowingly supportive of getting the rare earth metals necessary for "clean" energy from a government that is hostile to the USA and our rapidly diminishing shared values.
I'm sure most of you are aware that China uses slave labor to mine these minerals. On top of that, their environmental track record is completely abysmal. Recently, a report on so-called green house gases shows that China emits more detrimental pollution into the atmosphere than all of the other industrialized nations of the world. Combined!
To counter these issues, mineral extraction must occur in places other than China. But that comes with a cost, both measurable and esoteric.
We don't have to accept minerals being mined by slave labor. The minerals are available right here, in the USA. But since we did away with slavery over 150 years ago (a very good thing), we will have to pay miners an appropriate wage to dig up the dirt. This alone will drive up the cost significantly, since China pays their miners almost nothing.
We have almost no infrastructure to refine these minerals due to costs savings and environmental regulations. I don't think there is a smelter left standing in the USA that is capable of processing raw materials. The few companies that do mine rare earth metals (3 at last count), ship the raw materials to China for processing. This process is EXTREMELY dirty. Are progressives, in their zeal to make everything green, willing to allow mining, and the processing of the raw materials, to occur in the USA? Or will this be a case of NIMBY? Are you willing to pay the costs associated with process of resource extraction? Or will you close your eyes and turn their heads to the issues of how China turns the raw material into usable metals?
Recently it seems that Former VP Biden is willing to let China be our source of these rare earth metals. He has published an EO that will continue to make extremely difficult to mine rare earth metals in the USA.
When a company wants to mine minerals in the USA the permit process can take 15-20 years. I believe it was in 2017 that the Trump administration attempted to streamline the permitting process. While Trump wanted us to be be energy independent, it seems that he might also been aware electric vehicles (EV) was a movement that could not be ignored. His thinking might have been; if this is where we are going, why not cut ties to hostile regimes and mine what we can here, in the USA. This EO was later overturned by former VP Biden's puppet masters.
Former VP Biden has said that EV can be cheaper than gas powered vehicles by 2035. Is he, and his advisors looking at the increased costs if we do (and should) cut ties with China.
Are you willing, to achieve carbon neutrality, to accept salve labor? Are you OK with even more pollution from China as the needed minerals are extracted from the ground? Are you willing to accept these things so you can feel good and pat yourself on the back, saying what a good steward of the environment am l?.
I ask these questions because so far nobody has been able to answer them. When these valid points are made, there is no rebuttal. Just a superior shake of the head and the smirk.
