The case for bolstering U.S. mining is rock solid | Opinion

Yet another week has gone by without any action by Congress to resolve the mine permitting problem.  The process takes a long time, and even then there's no assurance that a mining company will get a permit to open a new mine in the United States.  Think about our growing reliance on China and Russia for critically important minerals and metals used in producing not only consumer products like laptops and smartphones but also weapons systems and batteries for clean energy technologies – and how pleasing this dependence must be to the rulers of those countries. 

Without a moment's notice, China could  cut off shipments of battery minerals like rare earths.  A decade ago it did just that to Japan during a dispute over fishing rights to the South China Sea. Today the U.S. depends heavily on China for not only rare earths but other minerals, including lithium, cobalt, manganese and phosphate, which are needed for batteries in electric cars and the transmission of wind and solar power. 

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