In 1973, the Organization of the Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) imposed an oil embargo on the United States, causing an oil crisis and sending the U.S. economy into recession.
Beyond OPEC, the world is now on the brink of a green embargo from China, with a “green” revolution that occasionally generates electricity from wind and solar, potentially triggering a financial crisis that could push the U.S. economy into recession. There is.
50 years ago, in the aftermath of a catastrophe 1973 oil crisis In 1977, the Department of Energy (DOE) was established. reduce America relies on overseas bases for its energy independence, and currently employs 14,000 people. Budget for 2024 is $52 billionMr. Miss, The DOE has remained silent, allowing foreign countries to take control of California and China to monopolize the mineral and metal supply chain to achieve America’s “green” agenda.
- California: Fourth The world’s largest economy is Imported crude oil has increased from 5% in 1992 to almost 60% of total consumption today..
- California is home to nine international airports, 41 military airports, and three of America’s largest transportation ports. California’s increased dependence on other countries for crude oil is a serious national security risk for the United States.
- China: Regarding the transition to a “green” revolution dependent on electricity, wind, solar, and electric vehicle policies increase America’s dependence on rare earth minerals and metals mined for batteries under heinous slave labor and environmental conditions. Meanwhile, the Department of Energy remains silent. In other countries, Departments of Energy and bureaucratic policymakers embrace and encourage it.
- China controls 80% of the world’s supply monopoly on rare earth minerals and metals, and Africa’s Congo is the source of 90% of the critical cobalt.
- Graphite: On a total EV battery component basis, graphite makes up approximately 25% to 28% of the total EV battery. Turkey has the largest reserves of graphite, followed by Brazil and China. Together, these three countries account for 66% of the world’s estimated graphite reserves.
An environmentalist movement aimed only at the richer countries of the planet who can afford the regulatory costs of large batteries for electric cars, trucks, and buses, and for environmental campaigns against the electricity occasionally generated by wind turbines and solar panels. Vision is tunnel vision. It is hypocritical, unethical and immoral.
- China controls 80% of the global supply monopoly of rare earth minerals and metals.
- Congo in Africa is a source of 90% of the important cobalt.
- Lithium: The Lithium Triangle, covering parts of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, holds more than 50% of the world’s lithium supply.
- Graphite: On a total EV battery component basis, graphite makes up approximately 25% to 28% of the total EV battery. Turkey has the largest reserves of graphite, followed by Brazil and China. Together, these three countries account for 66% of the world’s estimated graphite reserves.
Today, a typical EV battery weighs 1,000 pounds and includes:
- 25 pounds of lithium,
- 60 pounds of nickel,
- 44 pounds of manganese,
- 30 pounds of cobalt,
- 200 pounds of copper, and
- 400 lbs of aluminum, steel, and plastic.
- Inside are over 6,000 individual lithium-ion batteries.
It should concern everyone that all these “blood minerals” are mined in parts of the world that environmentalists, policymakers, and EV buyers will never see.
- For example, to produce each EV car battery, 25,000 pounds of brine for lithium, 30,000 pounds of ore for cobalt, 5,000 pounds of ore for nickel, and 25,000 pounds of ore for copper are processed. need to do it. After all, all you need is one Tesla EV battery. Process over 500,000 pounds of material anywhere on the planet.
- Large electric truck batteries can weigh up to 16,000 pounds, which is 16 times more than a Tesla battery!!!! It takes 8 million pounds of earth to dig one truck battery. This is amazing. For each truck battery, he digs up 8 million pounds of dirt.
EVs are heavily subsidized in a variety of ways. These include direct federal and state tax incentives for buyers, government financing incentives for manufacturers, and additional production costs that are passed on to gasoline-powered vehicle buyers.
Both China and African countries have minimal labor and environmental laws, resulting in widespread environmental destruction and humanitarian atrocities that support “clean” EV batteries. Both lithium and cobalt, which are key components of EV batteries, are listed. Periodic table of endangered elements For example, limited availability or increased threat due to increased usage.
Continue to financially incentivize China and Africa to exploit “their” poor people with yellow, brown and black skin, just to support clean EV batteries for “our” environment. It seems unethical and immoral to continue to financially support the environmental destruction of their landscapes. backyard”!
As America enters three and a half years into President Biden’s inauguration, the Department of Energy’s silence has become deafening — a presidential administration that promised “whole government” from the beginning. Onslaught of regulations to force transition from fossil fuels to “green” electricity. And the onslaught of regulations on fossil fuels is giving China an incentive to control America’s power green movement!
China stands to have a negative impact on lithium-ion battery production around the world. China has exclusive control over processed graphite, an essential ingredient in nearly all lithium-ion batteries. Virtually all engineered graphite, both natural and synthetic, is manufactured in China and exported to battery manufacturers around the world.
These batteries are widely used in electrical and electronic equipment, from cell phones and watches to electric vehicles and large grid-scale backup batteries. It also has a number of important military applications.
China is currently beginning to implement an export control program for processed graphite. By restricting exports, China could have a significant negative impact on many lithium-ion battery productions, raising prices for some producers or even blacklisting entire countries. .
Thus, the potential negative effects of China’s monopoly power are extremely large. What they will do remains to be seen, but the threat is very real. Much has been written about China’s market power in other important materials such as cobalt and rare earths. However, these cases are weak compared to the processed graphite monopoly.
China is a major player in both cases, and coincidentally produces about 70% of processed cobalt and 70% of rare earths. These numbers are not a monopoly, as there are many other suppliers. In fact, China produces so much lithium-ion batteries that it consumes most of its production. We are an online importer of rare earths.
The “green” movement toward EVs, China’s monopoly on the world’s supply of rare earth minerals and metals for wind and solar power generation poses a clear and potential “embargo” risk to the U.S. and global economies. It is. Again, the next foreign embargo beyond OPEC could be a “green” embargo by China.
Share this information with your friends to encourage energy literacy conversations at your family table.
