President Biden recently took executive action to increase U.S. lithium battery production. This is welcome news for the U.S. battery industry. With the EV revolution fully underway, a ramp-up of domestic lithium mining capacity is just what the doctor ordered.
The U.S. hasn’t been a major producer of lithium since the end of the Cold War, when the need for the solid fusion fuel “lithium deuteride” ceased, domestic demand for lithium plummeted, and the factories closed. A renewal in U.S. lithium mining operations will ease our reliance on resources from foreign adversaries like China.
U.S. Lithium Mining Will Need a Careful Approach
Every coin has two sides. On the one hand, reliable domestic supply of lithium will deliver needed security to U.S.-based EV and battery manufacturers. The domestic battery industry is far too dependent right now on foreign sources for materials.
On the other hand, there are legitimate environmental and ethical concerns that must be addressed. Older mining techniques such as acid leaching had greater ecological consequences than modern approaches, but even modern methods of lithium mining pose some risks. It will be imperative for policy makers and industry leaders to mitigate these issues through careful regulation, investments, research incentives, and other countermeasures.
Some of the new lithium mines springing up across the U.S. are also positioned within Native American territory. Biden installed the first ever indigenous Interior Secretary, Deb Haaland, in acknowledgement of the need to increase trust between tribes and the U.S. government. However, it is vital that the U.S. takes further steps to investigate the effect of these mines on the people who call the region home.
We Must Overcome Challenges to Separate From China
A careful approach cannot change the fact that we need more mines, and fast. The U.S. will need to take quick action to update policies, review regulations, and invest big in re-establishing our dormant lithium mining industry if we hope to secure our economic interests.
Demand for lithium is not likely to slow down. It will soon become the most geopolitically important resource since oil. Rapid expansion in U.S. lithium battery production will help us to hold our own, or even lead the way, in an electrified global economy. We’ll need to identify the most sustainable way possible to accomplish this goal — with respect to all ecological and ethical concerns — but we can do it if we commit heavily over the next several years.
Priority number one will be building up enough domestic supply to get away from dependency on China, where the majority of lithium production and refining currently takes place. As we lean into electrification, any deterioration in our relationship with China could have severe consequences for our entire economy.
The same thing has been seen lately with oil and gas prices worldwide. Countries dependent upon Russian oil are currently reeling to figure out how to make ends meet in the midst of the conflict in Europe and resulting supply shortages (or even cutoffs). We must do everything we can to ensure we aren’t fully reliant upon other countries for the resources that fuel our economy. Lithium will be that resource before long.
Energy Assurance looks forward to the future of the U.S. battery industry. We’re eager to see what solutions our nation has in store for the challenges we’ll face along the way.
