Environmental advocacy groups continue to oppose mining efforts within the US, despite pushing for a green future through electric vehicles that require large amounts of copper and other mined resources.
The advocacy groups, the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Earthjustice, and Center for Biological Diversity have pushed to decarbonize the grid and the auto market in the coming years, but continue to advocate against mining projects that would support the green transition. [emphasis, links added]
The advocacy groups on Tuesday celebrated the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Final Determination that restricted the possible mining of 1.4 billion tons of copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and rhenium, which could have provided “tens of millions” in tax dollars for the state of Alaska and helped source crucial EV materials.
The Sierra Club, NRDC, Earthjustice, and Center for Biological Diversity did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for examples of a single mine in the US that they support.
In February, environmental activists threatened to stop two mining projects that were critical to Biden’s climate agenda.
The groups, the Great Basin Resource Watch (GBRW), the Western Watersheds Project, Basin and Range Watch, and Wildlands Defense filed a lawsuit to block the Thacker Pass and the Rhyolite Ridge lithium mines.
Lithium is a crucial component of electric vehicle batteries.
The Biden administration’s push for 50% of all vehicles to be electric by 2030 aligns with the advocacy groups’ mission of transitioning away from fossil fuels as a major source of energy, but both the Biden administration’s EPA and the advocacy groups have worked to restrict mining efforts within the US, most recently the Pebble Limited Partnership’s copper-heavy mine in Alaska.
A standard vehicle uses 18 to 50 pounds of copper, and an EV powered by a battery requires 85 to 183 pounds, according to the Copper Development Association. The demand for copper due to electric vehicles is expected to increase by 1,700 kilotons by 2027.
The administration has canceled numerous mining efforts within the US over the past two years, opting to outsource mining efforts to other countries.
In January, the Biden administration agreed to a memorandum of understanding with Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to strengthen the EV battery value chain.
Just one week prior, the administration canceled a major mining project on 200,000 acres of land in Minnesota, saying it was for water protection.
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Those Eco-Freaks run on a ideology based upon Junk Science and Lies and now the idiots are shooting themselves in the foot with their silly ideas