President Trump is determined to make the United States self-sufficient and energy dominant.
The United States has Produce more oil and gas He intends to realize its full potential – providing energy and petrochemical raw materials for more than 6,000 pharmaceuticals, plastics, paints, fabrics, cosmetics and other products. [emphasis, links added]
As he says, “Drill, baby, drill!”
Abundant, reliable, and affordable energy is the lifeblood of modern industrial society. But they also require hundreds of metals and minerals, because without them nothing can be made or grown, and without them no well can be dug.
That's why the president launched similar initiatives for Alaska and the treasure trove of the lower 48 states.
This call to action is “Mine, baby, mine!” Before that, “Explore, baby, explore!”
The Stone Age didn't end because our ancestors ran out of stone, and the Bronze Age didn't end because copper supplies ran out.
They ended because society needed better, stronger, more durable weapons and goods—and innovators discovered iron substitutes, iron ore deposits, and the technology to convert the ore into finished products.
Virtually every technological change in history has required the search and extraction of previously unknown and unwanted metals and mineral deposits that suddenly became critical to progress.
Trump 47 executive order Reforms in the drilling and mining industries, as well as an end to mandates, subsidies and programs for offshore wind, the Green New Deal and electric vehicles, will drastically reduce demand for millions of tonnes of copper, steel, cobalt, lithium, rare earths and other materials. However, they won't ending That need.
But now America can build more coal, natural gas, and nuclear power plants—instead of 10,000 wind turbines and 10,000,000 solar panels supporter Fossil fuel generators…or giant battery warehouses like this one recently became There is another California fires.
However, today's rapidly developing server, artificial intelligence, aerospace, military and other technologies still mean that We must find and produce materials that until recently few had mined or even heard of: rare earth elements, cobalt, lithium and many others Key strategic minerals.
China controls 60% of the world Rare earth It produces and processes 90% of it – including ore mined in the United States and other countries.
it's also Control cobalt and lithium production and processing, nearly all Processing graphite Lithium-ion batteries for mobile phones, electric vehicles and grid-scale backup batteries.
This means that the United States relies on this hostile country for many technologies; even SEAL equipment More than 20 minerals are required, at least 50% of which are imported, many from China.
This untenable situation was highlighted last December. China strictly restricts exports Antimony, gallium and germanium, especially for the United States, as these elements are indispensable for both civilian and military technology.
China could block more of these exports, using them as weapons of diplomacy, blackmail or war.
This situation also makes no geological sense. The plate tectonics and geological history of Alaska and the western states have left the United States with numerous and often enormous metal and mineral deposits throughout the region. periodic table of elements.
Some are well known, while others have yet to be discovered, mapped, or developed to meet changing, growing, and increasingly strategic needs.
Not even Wilderness Act of 1964 Realized this. Article 2 allows exploration to collect information about mineral resources and requires “planned and regular” mineral surveys to be carried out, provided that these activities are carried out in a manner consistent with the protection of the “wilderness environment”. There is no “end” date for this work.
Article 3 allows for mining rights and mineral leasing, exploration, drilling, roads, production, mechanized equipment and other necessary operations and facilities until midnight on December 31, 1983.
The only stipulation is that once mining ceases, disturbed areas should be reclaimed and restored “to the greatest extent possible”.
However, federal officials ignored this clear language and delayed, blocked or blocked all permit requests to conduct such work, including the mineral surveys and assessments that the government regularly conducts.
Rupert Cutler, assistant secretary of agriculture, made comments to me in 1978 that summed up their attitude then and now. “I don't think Congress should enact this rule,” he said.
“But Congress did enact it, and you are obligated when you take the oath of office to abide by the way the law is written, not the way you think it is. should Already written. Dr. Cutler walked away.
Successive federal land managers—along with conservationists, courts, presidents, and legislators—have prohibited or severely restricted and even minimally invasive exploration in vast wildernesses, wilderness studies, wildlife refuges, antiquities laws, and even undesignated forests, deserts, and prairies—regardless of critical state needs or clear legislative language.
National parks should be off limits. In most cases, these other lands shouldn't.
By 1994, when I helped prepare the last detailed analysis, Prohibits mineral exploration and development in an area of federal lands equivalent to the combined area of Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
Covers 420 million acres, 19% of the United States; and 66% of federal/public lands.
Although the processes of plate tectonics, volcanic activity and other forces unleashed have created some of the most highly mineralized deposits in North America and the world, things are getting “gradually” worse.
State and local legislators, regulators, judges and activists treat nonfederal lands the same way. Even world-class deposits are often mined at depth for dubious reasons.
This cannot go on. These areas must be investigated and explored by government agencies and private companies.
Important high-quality mineral deposits must be made available for mining under sound environmental principles to meet the needs of current and future generations.
Failure to do so violates the most basic principles of defence, national security, responsible government and the needs of society.
Alaskan Pebble Mine Prospects It holds an estimated 55 million tons of copper ore, 3.3 billion tons of molybdenum, and other metals needed for wind turbines, solar panels, electric vehicles, and other technologies; however, Biden’s EPA denied the mining plan even before it was submitted Certificate application.
Other world-class deposits of copper, cobalt, zinc, titanium, gold, silver, zinc and other metals in Alaska are also in limbo.
In Minnesota, Biden officials also revoked mining licenses around the world largest copper-nickel depositPresident Biden personally banned all mining activity in the state's 225,000-acre iron ore area.
The fate of North Carolina's Kings Mountain lithium deposit, which could contain 5 million tonnes of lithium, is equally uncertain, as are many other excellent prospects. This is despite the fact that modern American law and technology will ensure better environmental practices than elsewhere in the world.
Some concerns are certainly valid, some are exaggerated, and some reflect a determination to prevent mining anywhere in the United States, or even to development and deindustrialization in the United States and the West.
However, environmental and other considerations must always be balanced against the need for critical metals, minerals and energy to sustain modern societies and living standards.
Making America great again—and responding to today's national security threats and needs—requires changes in federal and state perspectives, policies, and laws to recognize this. This is a matter of simple reality and common sense.
Paul Driessen is a senior policy analyst at the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (www.CFACT.org) and the author of books and articles on energy, environment, climate and human rights issues.
