The Biden administration announced Thursday that it will complete a 20-year evacuation of 225,504 acres of forest land in northern Minnesota. Domestic Important Mineral Reserves.
The measures announced by the Department of the Interior (DOI) effectively ban mining activity in and around the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Duluth, Minnesota for the next 20 years. Officials said they had taken action to protect the local environment and watershed.
“The Department of the Interior takes seriously our duty to manage public lands and water bodies on behalf of all Americans. It is key to supporting health, upholding tribal trust and treaty responsibilities, and boosting the local recreational economy,” DOI Director Deb Haaland said in a statement.
“With the aim of preserving this special place for future generations, I made this decision using the best available science and broad public opinion,” she continued. .
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President Joe Biden is pictured at the White House next to DOI Director Deb Haaland on Oct. 8, 2021.
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Last year, DOI canceled two mineral leases held by Twin Metals Minnesota located within the Superior National Forest outside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. As a result of that decision and Thursday’s actions, domestic mining companies will be effectively banned from operating in the area in the near future, leaving the forest’s vast and vital mineral resources untapped.
However, the Twin Metals mining project contained about 88% of the country’s cobalt reserves, in addition to vast amounts of copper, nickel and platinum group metals. Such critical minerals are essential to a variety of green energy technologies that the Biden administration has been aggressively pushing, including electric vehicle batteries, battery storage facilities, solar panels and wind turbines.
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For example, according to the International Energy Agency, electric vehicles require 500% more mineral resources than conventional gasoline vehicles, while a single onshore wind turbine plant requires 800% more energy than a typical fossil fuel plant. Requires mineral resources.
But China and other hostile nations, countries with serious human rights problems, dominate the world’s mineral supply chains.
President Biden has prioritized promoting green energy as part of his climate policy. Important minerals are essential for green energy technology.
(Reuters/Kevin Lamarck/File)
The State Department recently signed an agreement opening the door to funding mining projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which will mine more than 70% of the world’s cobalt supply in 2021 and yield 3.5 million tons of cobalt. . To reserve. But a recent independent study found that cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo employ child labor.
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“If the Democrats are serious about developing renewable energy sources and breaking China’s dominance in global markets, they’ve just opened the door to responsible minerals here in the United States.” and House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman, R-Ark. said in a statement Thursday. “There would be no renewable energy future without minerals, not to mention defense systems, satellites, mobile phones and almost every other advanced technology that requires minerals.”
“While the Democrats are playing political ping-pong with America’s industry, China and Russia are laughing head-on,” Westerman continued. “The government’s decision to withdraw this mineral-rich area by blatantly targeting one of our country’s most promising mines is short-sighted, stupid and completely unscientific.”
“Unfortunately, President Biden doesn’t seem to care what the mining community in Minnesota and the American economy as a whole pays.”
Artisans at a cobalt mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on October 12, 2022.
(Junior Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)
In addition, good national forest mining projects had project labor contracts to unionize the sites.
“It is difficult to align this massive land withdrawal announcement with the Biden administration’s goals for electrification, energy transition and supply chain security,” said Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the National Mining Association, in a statement. . “At a time when demand for minerals such as copper, nickel, and cobalt is skyrocketing for use in electric vehicles and solar and wind power infrastructure, the government is seeking to provide U.S. manufacturers with abundant supplies of these minerals. We’re clearing hundreds of thousands of acres of land that could provide a source of minerals.”
“Ultimately, by closing more and more of our land to responsible domestic mining, instead of producing minerals here, we’ll end up with high-paying U.S. jobs and mining conducted according to the strictest environmental, labor, and safety standards in the world. Following regulations by creating businesses, the administration is launching operations in Congo and Zambia,” he added.
“Given that the US wants to be a world leader in manufacturing, innovation and climate, it makes no sense,” he said.
