Joe Biden’s administration is falling flat on its face when it comes to energy security. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland showcased this in a recent Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing when she was asked questions by Republican Sen.
Josh Hawley about which country dominates the production of critical minerals that are utilized in the manufacturing of electric vehicles.
Her response left a lot to be desired, as she was unable to answer questions about the production of lithium, cobalt, and graphite.
Hawley had to speak up and inform her that it is China that refines 60% of the world’s lithium and 80% of the world’s cobalt.
Despite Biden’s push for electric vehicles, the Biden administration has blocked efforts to start mining for copper and nickel near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in January and the Environmental Protection Agency made a determination Jan. 31 that would block the mining of 1.4 billion tons of copper, gold, molybdenum, silver and rhenium in Alaska in order to protect salmon.
Hawley asked, “In all of these instances, these mandates, your decision to trade off our energy security in favor of a radical climate change agenda is making us more and more dependent on China, and at the same time, you are denying mining, blocking mining, blocking permits for mines in this country that would allow us to develop nickel and copper and cobalt,” Hawley said. “Why? Why block the development of these resources in our own nation in favor of making us dependent on China?”
Haaland’s reply was to cite environmental concerns as the justification for blocking mining near the Boundary Waters area.
This response doesn’t really make sense when held up to the standards of energy security, especially when the Biden administration is pushing for all heavy and medium trucks to be “zero-emission” by 2040.
It’s clear that the Biden administration is more focused on appeasing certain interest groups than on providing Americans with the energy security they need.
This is unacceptable, especially when taking into account the fact that the U.S. lags behind China in terms of production of critical minerals.
As Sen. Hawley pointed out, the Biden administration’s decisions are “making us more and more dependent on China.” It’s time for the Biden administration to step up and take the necessary steps to ensure that Americans are no longer at the mercy of foreign minerals and production. It’s time for the Biden administration to make energy security a priority.
