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The Economic and Strategic Importance of Domestic Mineral Production

The Economic and Strategic Importance of Domestic Mineral Production

Full Title: The Economic and Strategic Importance of Domestic Mineral Production
Author(s): Institute for Energy Research
Publisher(s): Institute for Energy Research
Publication Date: April 18, 2023
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):

As we look to the future, improvements in technology and increased government involvement in energy markets means we will likely see more electric vehicles (EVs), batteries for storage, solar panels, wind turbines, and increased competitiveness of hydrogen technologies. In addition to improvements in technology, many governments and some businesses around the world are trying to set targets to reach net zero carbon dioxide emissions, which means reducing carbon dioxide emissions to as close to zero as possible so that any remaining emissions are reabsorbed from the atmosphere by oceans, forests, or other plants. The Biden administration, for example, has set a goal for the U.S. to achieve net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.

One of the major impediments to net zero goals and the continued rollout of many of the energy technologies that would help reach them is that they require far more minerals and materials than are currently being produced. If the Biden administration wants to achieve its net zero goals, it should be aggressively working to open more mines in the United States as well as improving our processing capabilities. But they are not. It is possible that the Biden administration hates new mines more than they hate new oil and gas production. We need a path forward to enable entrepreneurs to do for minerals what they have done for U.S. production of oil and natural gas. In essence, we need to “mine, baby, mine.”

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