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U.S. miners tout environmental credentials in wake of Biden victory
Environment Nov 13, 2020
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(Reuters) – U.S. mining companies are moving fast to align themselves with Joe Biden’s climate change agenda, saying the lithium, copper and other metals they produce can help the president-elect achieve his ambitious goals to slash carbon emissions and electrify the nation’s automobiles. With Biden proposing to hasten the demise of coal and other fossil fuels with his $2 trillion climate plan, miners of so-called strategic metals are hoping Biden’s team sees them as partners, not foes.
Within hours of U.S. networks calling the race last Saturday, the National Mining Association trade group congratulated Biden on his victory and reminded him that the country’s 600,000 miners supply products used to make bridges, cell phones, solar panels and myriad other goods. “You might not want to extract coal, but you should want to extract lithium,” said Michael Silver, chief executive of Los Angeles-based American Elements, which makes performance materials from a range of metals. “Biden could change the zeitgeist in the county on mining.”
The miners’ approach aims to supplant the common view of mining as environmentally harmful, for that of a core provider of the materials necessary for a low-carbon future, even though some controversial practices – including open-pit […]
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