Groom, N. (2023, September 12) US committee recommends royalties on minerals for EVs in sweeping reform proposal. Retrieved January 28, 2024, 

from US committee recommends royalties on minerals for EVs in sweeping reform proposal – MINING.COM

 

A federal committee recommends for the first time ever to put royalties on hardrock mining within the United States. This is part of recommendations that are intended to expand domestic supply of critical minerals and metals. The committee also recommended federal land to be leased for mining. This is an attempt to speed up mining permitting. However, environmentalists call for a report to look at the safety risks and pollution caused by hardrock mining.

 

This is another important step towards green energy. The US needs a large amount of minerals and metals to support its transition towards clean energy, requiring a large amount of domestic mining operations. However, the main difficulty facing domestic mining is current US regulation facing mining. It takes a long time to get permits to mine and there’s a lot of opposition to any mining project. By changing permitting, it will be easier for mining companies to start extracting mineral deposits across the country and put it into clean energy systems. THe downside is that there will be environmental degradation across the country due to mining. Unfortunately, this is a necessary evil to transition to cleaner energy and save the larger environment. One thing we can do is to account for the local communities, making sure that we can help people that are impacted by these environmental factors.