I’ll admit it, I am somewhat of an environmentalist. I have spent days, and sometimes weeks in the great outdoors both as a firefighter and as someone who enjoys backpacking. And I burn a little every time I see the rich building homes as high as they can in the mountains or the forest because they want to be closer to nature. Or just because they are rich and can build wherever they want. But because the rich usually trend left and love to screech, sermonize, and yell at the common man for the smallest of transgressions, they get to build wherever they want, recreate wherever they want, drive whatever they want, and absolve themselves by making the average Joe and Jane eat bugs and ride the bus. And that probably is not going to change in our lifetime, so get used to the hypocrisy.
Of course, there is always green energy. And as Joe Biden is fond of reminding us, green energy will not only save the planet but also keep you from getting brain damage from your stove and of course create “good paying union jobs.” So to hell with burning natural gas, and don’t even dare mention filthy oil or coal. Nuclear, maybe. Depending on whom you ask and when you ask them. But the future is electric.
There is a problem with electricity that figures into the green energy revolution. Many of these things require certain metals in order to make them work, and many of the devices we use now need batteries. Lithium is often a key component, and according to Innovation News Network, nickel is increasingly playing an essential role in the transition to all of this green energy over which we are supposed to be salivating. Including EVs. So we have a choice: We can continue to do business with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (thanks to a Biden administration agreement), which is known for using child labor and paying slave wages. Or we can buy the metals we need from China. China, of course, is known for imprisoning, enslaving, and abusing the Uyghurs; oppressing its population; and exporting TikTok and fentanyl. And it also does not give a rodent’s backside about the environment.
Or we could mine these metals here. But don’t bet on it.
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The Federalist reports that on Thursday, the Department of the Interior blocked plans for the “Twin Metals Project” in the Superior National Forest in northern Minnesota. The area, known as the Duluth Complex, contains 95 percent of the nickel reserves and 88 percent of our cobalt reserves. The DOI is worried about the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. In a press release, the DOI stated:
The Department of the Interior takes seriously our obligations to steward public lands and waters on behalf of all Americans. Protecting a place like Boundary Waters is key to supporting the health of the watershed and its surrounding wildlife, upholding our Tribal trust and treaty responsibilities, and boosting the local recreation economy,” said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland. “With an eye toward protecting this special place for future generations, I have made this decision using the best-available science and extensive public input.”
“I applaud Secretary Haaland’s decision to protect the long-term health of the Rainy River watershed, including the irreplaceable Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “This landscape is an international resource renowned for its multitude of recreational opportunities and provides millions of visitors with unparalleled wilderness experiences.”
Today’s decision is the culmination of more than a year of evaluation by federal partners and robust public involvement regarding the potential impacts of mining on the important natural and cultural resources of the Rainy River Watershed.
It also says:
The public land order withdrawing portions of the Superior National Forest from operation of the mineral and geothermal leasing laws, subject to valid existing rights, is authorized by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. The Secretary of the Interior has the authority to withdraw this area for a maximum of 20 years, subject to renewal. Only Congress can legislate a permanent withdrawal.
Today’s action builds upon decades of local efforts to protect the landscape, watershed and the outdoor recreation economy they support. This is consistent with the principles of President Biden’s America the Beautiful initiative to support locally led conservation and restoration efforts.
But wait, I thought we needed the metals to usher in a new age of energy? I guess not. We can always look to Canada, the Congo, and our good friends in China.
The land is exceptionally good at healing itself, and the Biden administration’s DOI could have imposed reclamation requirements to ensure that the mining operations replaced their divots. And I do not doubt that there are plenty of people in the DOI who would have loved to inspect the operation as often as possible to make sure everything was being done by the book. But there can be no middle ground. The DOI has spoken.
Over in Nevada, KSNV TV in Las Vegas is reporting that the Bureau of Land Management (the other BLM) has issued a trespass notice to the company Ioneer Rhyolite Ridge. The company has been mining lithium and its operations have affected a flower known as Tiehms’s buckwheat, which is only found in the Rhyolite Ridge area of the Silver Peak Range in Esmeralda County. By sheer coincidence, I am sure, U.S. Fish and Wildlife placed the plant on the endangered list just last month. The news story stated:
The BLM says it learned from a third party on Jan. 12 about a disturbance in the habitat. The next day, inspectors confirmed “the unauthorized placement of a water bladder and identified remnants of a laydown yard within designated critical habitat.”
Oddly enough, earlier this month the White House said it would provide the company with $700 million in loans for the project since it would “provide a socially and environmentally responsible U.S. supply chain for lithium. ” But that loan is contingent on Ioneer getting through the environmental impact statement process and monitoring by the Energy Department’s Loan Programs Office. And I am sure some sort of fee or penalty will be imposed for this transgression.
It’s not the first time I have seen a wildflower derail a project. Living in oil and gas country, I’ve sat through this movie before. And I have always wondered, in a day and age in which clients can clone a sheep and grow replacement ears for humans on mice, how difficult it would be to harvest and cultivate an endangered plant and reseed an area once operations had ceased. Not very I suppose, and it is a way to have your cake and eat it too. There are ways to mitigate damage caused by a mining operation if one is serious about doing so.
So, the WEF, Biden and Co., and whoever is holding his leash are all demanding a shift to green energy to save the environment. And of course, create good-paying union jobs. But we cannot mine the metals and minerals for that technology in the U.S. in order to save the environment. So we will buy these metals and minerals from other countries whose track records are not exactly stellar when it comes to human rights or, for that matter, the environment. Sound like lunacy? Not so fast.
Story Time:
When I was an intrepid reporter (not young, but in my very early middle age) and covering oil and gas issues, the county commissioners in my area told me about an interesting process. An energy company would want to start or had already started a project. An environmentalist organization would sue. The Department of the Interior would then “settle” for a sum of money paid to the organization. Case closed. I don’t know about you, but that sounds an awful lot like money laundering to me.
The question is: Who is profiting from all of this? And what do all of the parties get out of it? We will probably never know, at least for the duration of Biden’s reign.
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