It’s almost like Biden’s playbook has all the things a president should not do. Here’s one from this week, Biden is considering funding the Canadian mining metal industry as it struggles to find more rare earth minerals to build renewable energy technologies.
What? That doesn’t seem so bad you say?
Well, here’s the kicker…Biden has previously blocked the development of U.S. mining efforts according to E&E News.
After the passage of the Democrats’ huge climate spending package (that was certainly in the should not do playbook), the Biden Administration is now trying to import critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel. And they are ready to give money to the Canadian mining industry to get them, even after blocking the same industry projects in Minnesota and Alaska.
“The Department of The Interior is not for development of any kind … whether its mining or oil and gas,” Steve Milloy, a member of former President Donald Trump’s EPA transition team, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Canada has courts and climate activists and does not the same ability to undercut China’s slave labor and therefore, the plan has serious limitations.”
Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced in May that it would review a proposal that just about killed the Pebble Project. It is an Alaskan mining effort that could produce about 1.5 billion tons of critical minerals over 20 years.
And Biden’s Interior Department (DOI) canceled two mineral leases that belonged to the Twin Metals Mine in Minnesota in January. The construction in that mine had to be stopped.
China’s share of worldwide mineral refining is around 35% for nickel, 50-70% for lithium and cobalt, and nearly 90% for rare earth elements, according to a 2021 IEA report.
“Growing global demand will force the world to rely on China… it is impossible for Canadian or U.S. production to catch up as China will continue to undercut them,” Milloy stated.
The DOI and White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
