Weaning the economy off fossil fuels comes at its own environmental cost, a truth that is just now dawning on many Americans, especially those living near valuable mineral deposits. The transition will require mining massive quantities of metals and minerals, a practice that carries its own pollution, said Jordy Lee, a program manager at the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines.
“It’s considered worse than oil and gas from an environmental perspective,” Lee said. “It’s a weird mess of a problem.”
Lithium is an essential component of batteries used in electric cars and renewable power, and demand for the ultra-light material is expected to grow more than 40-fold by 2040, according to the International Energy Agency. The Energy Department last year called for improving U.S. access to raw materials “by incentivizing growth in safe, equitable…
Biden’s green agenda requires batteries, but building them is dirty business
