There is no greater betrayal by the U.S. government than failing to protect the safety and security of the American people. But this, in fact, was the case prior to Trump, because Washington had abdicated responsibility to protect and develop all-important rare earth elements that are critically necessary in the production of high-tech military weapons systems like F-15, F-22, and F-35 jet fighters, drones, and AI-driven systems. Instead, the U.S. has become dependent on China. In fact, the U.S. government admits that we rely on China for 100% of 20 key minerals and rare earth elements that are required by our high-tech defense systems.
Such government incompetence borders on treason.
As with the production of lithium and cobalt that power electric vehicles, China also controls most of the global rare-earth supply chain, including mining, processing, and refinement. At present, the U.S. has only one operational rare-earths mine. But we do not have the capacity to process heavy rare earths, so we send the mined ore to China for processing.
The U.S. was in fact the largest producer of rare earths until the 1980s, with well-known companies that manufactured rare-earth magnets. How did this collapse of domestic independence and capability happen?
In short, it has been due to the Left’s long march through the institutions — effectively supplanting America’s constitutional republic with an “administrative state.”
Over the last fifty years Congress failed to properly oversee, rein in, and direct the Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to support national security priorities and goals. Bureaucratic U.S. government agencies became peppered with progressives seeking political influence. And so, the administrative state of government agencies became increasingly politicized and hostile to developments such as logging, drilling, and mining — often under questionable pretexts of protecting nature or one or more endangered species.
While the media was preoccupied with the organized opposition to the high-visibility Keystone Pipeline Project, the Biden administration was quietly quashing other U.S. natural-resource development, suspending mining projects and proposals, such as:
- The Pebble Mine in Alaska — one of the greatest stores of mineral wealth ever discovered — and potentially the world’s largest undeveloped copper and gold resource, and rich in palladium, molybdenum, and rhenium.
- The Twin Metals and Duluth Complex Mines in Minnesota — rich deposits of copper, nickel, and cobalt.
- The Twin Pines Mine in Georgia, containing titanium, staurolite, and zircon.
In the name of “protecting the environment,” Biden and his elitist supporters of Rediscovering America, has been Amazon New Release in the history genre for eight weeks. Reach him at scottp@discovery.org
Image: White House
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