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Tesla, the world’s current “it” auto manufacturer, is concerned.
Their American-made electric vehicles, or EVs, require steady supplies of mined materials – lithium, copper, cobalt and more. And our current capacity might not be enough.
Sarah Maryssael, Tesla’s global supply manager for battery metals, reportedly warned at a closed-door industry conference last week that a global shortage of critical EV components is coming. Tesla is warning of “long-term supply challenges” because of “underinvestment in the mining sector.”
Tesla is right to be concerned about underinvestment in the mining sector, but who should they be concerned with? We need to be asking – why hasn’t there been enough investment, when we know the need for these elements is coming?
The answer is simple: the environmentalist movement.
For years, environmental groups have worked to raise the cost of opening new mines, especially here in Alaska, where we have plentiful opportunities. They threaten lawsuits, file legal actions, bring in protesters – actions that cumulatively make it more expensive and more difficult to open new mining facilities.
And here’s the crazy part: The same environmental activists who are trying to push “green” energy and transportation are the people fighting the mining activities that can help make it happen. It’s hypocrisy at its finest – they demand green energy but protest the resources needed to make EVs and battery storage a reality.
In Alaska, for example, the public outcry from environmentalists against the Pebble mine has been deafening. Eco-activists say we must choose between mining and fishery health, and they have relentlessly pursued all means necessary to shutter Pebble before it has a chance to work through the permitting process. Don’t forget, Pebble would be primarily a copper mine – one of the inputs that Tesla is warning could face shortages.
The same environmental extremism has begun against the whole of the Ambler Mining District, an area in Northwest Alaska that holds world-class deposits, because it will take a new road through state and federal lands to access the projects. The Aktigiruq deposit features zinc, gold and lead. Arctic VMS has identified copper, zinc, lead, gold and silver in its deposit landscape. Bornite has significant copper and cobalt resource potential in its claim area, while Taurus has notable deposits of copper, gold and molybdenum. Graphite Creek has the U.S.’s largest large-flake graphite deposit.
All of these projects would help in one way or another to improve output of materials needed to build a more robust green energy world. If the eco-activists had their way, these resources would remain in the ground. Their protests then make no sense.
Will the environmental extremists cede their moral high ground, stop fighting against the mining industry and realize that resource extraction actually serves their goals in the long run?
My guess is no. To do so would be to give up a potent fundraising method used to vilify responsible resource extraction and the energy workers employed at those projects.
Environmental groups in Alaska and abroad should heed Tesla’s warning. America can lead the way, develop our resources and create the inputs needed for new, low-cost forms of energy and storage – if only these groups would stand aside.
Rick Whitbeck is the Alaska State Director for Power the Future. An Alaskan for more than 35 years, he says he enjoys the balance between stringent environmental stewardship and the ability to have a thriving resource development-driven economic base. Contact him at rwhitbeck@powerthefuture.com.
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