Without Mining There
Is No 'Green Revolution'
Townhall,
by
Stephen Moore
Original Article
Posted By: mattinak,
6/18/2019 11:43:59 AM
The recent threats by Beijing to cut off American access to critical mineral imports have many Americans wondering why our politicians have allowed the United States to become so overly dependent on China for these valued resources in the first place. Today, the United States is 90% dependent on China and Russia for many vital "rare earth minerals." The main reason for our overreliance on nations such as China for these minerals is not that we are running out of these resources here at home.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
jeffkinnh 6/18/2019 12:10:40 PM (No. 100768)
"Do they know this? Do they care?"
Of course environmentalists KNOW their actions are "blocking a green future and a safer planet". The environmental movement is populated by Communists whose true goal is to undermine the economic superiority of the US and thereby destroy the Country. They have co opted the cloak of environmental concern as a mask to hide this. Wise use of energy is a key component of economic success. In addition, abundant and self supplied energy is a critical political need. It allows us to act in our own best interests instead of being dependant on countries that are in opposition to us. We have wrested ourselves out of oil dependance. We should do so for any other resource that we can. We can continue to do business with other countries, just not to a majority of our needs, especially for critical resources.
8 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
hoosierblue 6/18/2019 12:33:30 PM (No. 100777)
The recent threats by Beijing to cut off American access to critical mineral imports have many Americans wondering why our politicians have allowed the United States to become so overly dependent on China for these valued resources in the first place.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For the same reason Hillary sold our uranium to Russia.
8 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
bad-hair 6/18/2019 12:45:53 PM (No. 100781)
The USA has large deposits of rare earth minerals. The problem is they are found in conjunction with a couple of highly radioactive elements which are essentially useless. If we mine them in the USA, safe disposal methods for the unwanted elements must be addressed and it's expensive. China on the other hand does not give a rat's butt about environmental safety. They just dump the radioactive crap in slag heaps and save the cost. Consequently China can sell rare earth minerals for about 25% of what the USA or other environmentally conscious nations would have to charge. When I say environmental I do not mean global warming CO2 BS.. This stuff is pollution, radioactive poison.
9 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
Bur Oak 6/18/2019 12:51:19 PM (No. 100784)
In Green Utopia they eat their cake and have it too and live happily forever by enslaving others.
4 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
lftrn97 6/18/2019 12:56:58 PM (No. 100787)
They want to play...we should drop the "Soy Bean" bomb. Look it up. Without rare earth our cell phones get slower. Without american soy beans China starves.
6 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
Wetenschapper 6/18/2019 1:13:22 PM (No. 100798)
Few Texans realize that there are rich rare earth deposits in their state. A mine is currently being developed in the Western panhandle, and the Llano uplift region in central Texas has several rich deposits. One of the richest deposits of monazite (rare earth oxide) was known as Barringer Hill, and was mined for cerium when this material was widely used in gas mantles. Now, however, the hill is underneath Lake Buchanan.
2 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
DVC 6/18/2019 1:17:23 PM (No. 100804)
Absolutely correct. These fools have not the slightest clue how any of this
"magic" works. It is actually technology, invented and manufactured by engineers
like me, working hard with one hand to make things happen while holding off
these insane Luddite fools with the other hand.
Sometimes it is just easier to buy these things from some place where the government
and rules are more friendly to mining and smelting.
We have forced the last US lead mine to close....and lead batteries are needed in
every single car for the starting battery, and are used in all the electric golf carts which
are, by far, the most practical electric vehicles that there are. My golf cart is gasoline
powered, though, makes even more sense.
Never accuse the left of having any brains or any ability to actually make any of he
fantasies that they have turn into reality.
6 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
MrDeplorable 6/18/2019 1:23:15 PM (No. 100810)
One of the things i love about Lucianne is that there are so many knowledgeable commenters such as #3, who told us something very important that should have been in the article. Thanks, #3. I'll remember you.
2 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Strike3 6/18/2019 2:38:55 PM (No. 100874)
I gave up "Rare Earth" in the Seventies. Don't need them or it.
1 person likes this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
DVC 6/18/2019 3:25:11 PM (No. 100908)
Getting too wrapped around the "radioactive waste" axle on this rare earth
mining isn't really a good idea. It is necessary to understand that calling something
radioactive is a real pejorative, yet we are exposed to lots of radioactive stuff that we
never give a second thought to. Each human is exposed to quite a lot of radioactivity
BY YOUR OWN BODY. Yes, you have potassium in you body (if you didn't you'd die)
and a portion of all potassium is K40 which is radioactive. Bananas have a lot of
potassium, a good thing......and a truck load will set off a radiation sensor used to try
to locate illicit nuclear materials in shipments.
Thorium is the very slightly, and very weakly radioactive metal which is usually found
in conjunction with the rare earth metals. It is so weakly radioactive that the radiation
cannot penetrate your skin, so external exposure is not harmful. The only way
that thorium can be harmful to humans is for it to be turned into dust and to enter
the body, usually by inhaling dust. This can lead to a internal direct contact exposure for long
periods so that even these extremely weak alpha particles might cause some harm,
some slight increase in health risks. Is this worse than that banana you ate or the
potassium radiation that you give off to yourself? Maybe....maybe not.
Certainly we don't want to be releasing lots of thorium dust, but OTOH, thorium is
in almost all rocks, everywhere, it is just a matter of concentration differences and
the grinding to fine dust. Almost any rock dust will have some thorium in it, along with
dozens of other things.
I am not advocating for uncontrolled distribution of thorium mining waste, but we also
need to try to put some of this in perspective. Just tossing out "radioactive waste" eeek -
run, put on your lead BVDs......isn't always helpful.
4 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
qr4j 6/18/2019 3:30:04 PM (No. 100911)
The Greenie Weenies promote a form of colonialism. The advocate for green batteries, etc., but disallow the needed resources to make them from being mined in the United States. The United States, while not an environmental utopia (what place is?), is far more environmentally friendly than China and the like. Yet the Greenie Weenies are fine with the needed resources being mined THERE. As long as it is in someone else's backyard, these Libs are fine with pollution -- apparently!
3 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Omen55 6/18/2019 5:38:35 PM (No. 100989)
I'd rather pay more & have it ourselves then pay the Chicoms.
Trump would have no problem selling that & the Chicoms know it.
1 person likes this.
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