Battery Minerals: A Common Fight Over Uncommon Things

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The present media and political churn over the manufacturing and distribution of battery minerals is producing some vitality of its personal. The talk feels fashionable as a result of it touches on the way forward for electrical vehicles, wind generators, photo voltaic panels, and vitality storage. If we may solely get our fingers on some Vibranium! In actuality, nonetheless, it is a basic query of balanced useful resource allocation.

What are the suitable requirements for mining, refining, and distributing this useful resource, given its manufacturing and political significance on one hand, and the potential for dangerous social, environmental, and labor outcomes on the opposite? These issues aren’t novel. In actual fact, they’re centuries outdated—and people arguing that environmental and neighborhood safety requirements have to be sacrificed on the altar of progress are not any extra proper at present than they have been when the identical arguments have been made on behalf of coal, timber, or whale oil.

To make certain, to fulfill our home and worldwide objectives of lowering US heat-trapping emissions by at the least 50% by 2030, in service of limiting the worst impacts of local weather change, the manufacturing of wind generators, photo voltaic panels, and batteries should improve considerably. This may require a rise within the supply of materials used of their manufacture, together with cobalt, lithium, nickel, and 47 different substances on the US Geological Survey’s official list.

Whereas the US home provide of many of those minerals is proscribed, worldwide provide is in depth, which means the US should companion with different international locations, together with European Union nations, Canada, Australia, Japan, and China (the place a lot of the processing functionality is presently concentrated), to assist meet demand. This has led some policymakers to make a misguided call for enjoyable US environmental and neighborhood protections to permit extra fast and widespread mining in the US.

The loudest voices calling for expedited mining within the US in service of the transition to a cleaner economic system lack credibility, nonetheless, as a result of those self same voices have been in favor of expedited mining within the US lengthy earlier than the primary Tesla rolled off the meeting line. Pitting clear autos and renewable vitality towards environmental and neighborhood safety makes a potent political wedge, however has no foundation in science or coverage.

Among the many principal targets of this push to “reform” the way in which mining is performed on this nation is the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Whereas the Biden Administration has worked to strengthen the regulation, these arguing we should “cut red tape” for brand new mines are in truth arguing for reducing planning, environmental evaluation, and neighborhood session below the regulation. Latest legislation launched by Senators Joe Manchin (I-WV) and John Barrasso (R-WY) is a set of exemptions from the regulation and limits on judicial evaluation of NEPA choices.

In actual fact, NEPA was designed to evaluate tough useful resource administration choices and permit native communities to interact in that evaluation. A strong NEPA course of is right for pursuing new home sources of battery minerals, the place acceptable. New funding for NEPA work included within the Inflation Discount Act (IRA) ought to enhance the standard of NEPA paperwork and shorten the time required to finish them, however would require time to take impact.

Within the meantime, no degradation of US home environmental requirements is critical, given the vary of extra accountable and efficient methods accessible. These embody:

• Recycling: recycling and reuse of batteries, photo voltaic panels, and wind generators could be expanded and made extra worthwhile. Minerals could be recovered and used within the manufacturing of latest merchandise, lowering the necessity for newly mined supplies.
• Moral provide chains: the US ought to work with the worldwide neighborhood to create an international market and supply chain for ethically sourced battery minerals, primarily based on the idea of Free, Prior, and Knowledgeable Consent (FPIC).
• Reform the Mining Regulation of 1872: slightly than undermining NEPA, the US ought to set the standard for accountable mining by reforming our outdated mining regulation to incorporate fashionable environmental, justice, labor, and financial requirements.
• Innovation: put money into progressive applied sciences that depend on fewer minerals, whereas diversifying the applied sciences we use.
• Higher Rules: the coverage focus needs to be on reaching our shared local weather objectives and a simply and equitable transition to a cleaner economic system, slightly than on essentially maximizing revenue for personal sector corporations, even when they produce renewable vitality parts.

Using these methods would enable the US to ramp up our provide of battery minerals responsibly as demand will increase. Expanded home mining may happen, however solely after these steps have been taken, after which solely pursuant to the very best environmental, labor, and neighborhood safety requirements.

Selecting between a clear surroundings and clear vitality is a false selection. Each are potential primarily based on these methods. Predictions that we should abandon core ideas within the title of progress aren’t visionary; they’re as outdated because the hills (and the minerals buried beneath them).

By David WatkinsDirector of Authorities Affairs, Local weather & Power Program, Initially printed on Union of Concerned Scientists’ The Equation.