Biden Shuts Down U.S. Mining Minerals, Yet Orders stockpiles

 It finally dawns on these yahoos that want all of this “Green” stuff that is needed for the great “environmentally friendly” universe, that it isn’t so friendly after all. Someone somewhere has to yank the minerals out of the ground. Oh, “Not in my back yard!”

The expression “Nuts” is exactly what comes to mind when one posts on the topic of minerals needed for the noble move to electric vehicles and solar and wind. 

If we wonder why our little green orbit that we live on doesn’t function right now, this story should highlight the bizarro world in which we live. But we are not the only crazies.

Let’s start across the pond in Europe.

LONDON, June 7 (Reuters) – Top lithium producer Albemarle Corp (ALB.N) may have to shut its Langelsheim plant in Germany if the metal used in electric vehicle batteries is declared a hazardous material by the European Union, its finance chief told Reuters.

Lithium’s pivotal role in electric vehicles makes it an important commodity in meeting global targets to cut carbon emissions, and it was added to the EU’s list of critical raw materials in 2020.

However, the European Commission is currently assessing a proposal by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to classify lithium carbonate, chloride and hydroxide as dangerous for human health.

“Albemarle would no longer be able to import our primary feedstock, lithium chloride, putting the entire (Langelsheim) facility in jeopardy of closure,” said Chief Financial Officer Scott Tozier in an emailed statement.

Here in the U.S? Sure, they are going to allow mining Lithium in California? There is no way in the world that the environmentalists will let this happen. Smoke and mirrors, that’s all. No doubt the bucks will find a home there anyway for some such nonsense. Solyndra come to mind?

Earlier I posted in May:

EPA Blocks Critical Major Mining Mineral Project

Within a week of the memo shutting down Oil and Gas Leases, the Federal government moves to shut down the Pebble Mining Project in Alaska of the very minerals that Biden just proclaimed essential under the Defense Emergency Production Act. Its location is in a 24,000 sq mile area in Alaska. Largely undeveloped.

Copper and molybdenum for green energy technology like electric vehicles, wind turbines and solar panels. Gold. Not for us. Possibly one of the largest mines in the world.

Notable Quotables:

We had a chance to meet Deb Haaland  with Senator Manchin in the infamous Energy Hearing. She has been a very busy Indian Chief dispensing heap big wampum for her fellow Indian tribes. Better yet, she was planted in her position to restrict any further energy development, period.

Sen. Manchin asks Interior Secretary Deb Haaland about memo cancelling oil drilling leases.

MANCHIN: “It looks like you all are going to shut everything down.”

HAALAND: “I am sorry. I am sitting in this hearing…”

MANCHIN: “My God.”

That is just the beginning in creating the perfect storm to bring the U.S. to her knees. Mandating the requirements for all this green stuff and then shutting down anyway for the U.S. to get there.

A list of the mining and related projects the administration has shut down.

IER

President Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to increase domestic production of minerals used in making electric vehicles, such as nickel, lithium and cobalt. The president said that the country depended on unreliable foreign sources for many materials necessary for transitioning to the use of renewable energy and reports have stressed this for years.

The irony of the situation is that in January, the Biden administration revoked the federal leases for the Twin Metals mine in Minnesota that contains copper, nickel, cobalt, and platinum-group elements. Instead of producing these metals domestically, last June, President Biden indicated that he wants to import them. Yet, now he supposedly changed course, claiming he wants to produce them in the United States.

The Pebble copper and gold mine, 100 miles from Bristol Bay, Alaska had its permit application rejected in November 2020 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In January 2021, the Pebble Partnership requested the Army Corps of Engineers to reverse its denial of the proposed mine’s Clean Water Act dredge and fill permit. 

….

Ioneer Ltd.’s lithium mine in Nevada, which could supply 22,000 metric tons of lithium annually—enough for about 400,000 electric cars, is being held captive by environmentalists, who claim the mine threatens Tiehm’s buckwheat, a rare flowering plant. The Trump Interior Department had refuted that after an extensive analysis, indicating that the culprit of the buckwheat was hungry squirrels.

…

The Resolution copper mine in Oak Flat, Arizona, which can meet about 25 percent of U.S. copper demand, is currently under federal environmental review. In September 2021, the House Natural Resources committee voted to include language in the reconciliation package to block the building of the Resolution copper mine. 

…

Recently, regulators suspended a right-of-way for a road in Alaska, previously granted by the Trump administration, which provided access to one of the world’s largest mineral deposits including zinc and copper.