GOV MIKE DUNLEAVY: China is holding critical minerals hostage. Alaska can help end the threat
America’s ability to compete with China hinges on secure access to critical minerals. That strategic imperative must guide federal policy on the resources that undergird our technology, economy, and national defense. It’s not an exaggeration to say that, without access to the critical minerals that form the backbone of our modern technological infrastructure, our economy would face major challenges growing and sustaining new jobs and equipping our military with the systems that keep us safe.
Here in Alaska, our state hosts resources of 57 of the 60 most important critical minerals. These critical minerals include rare earth elements used in hard drives and laptops, smartphones, and electric motors. They also include graphite, an important component of batteries used in electric cars and computers. Graphite is not only a critical mineral, but also one essential to national security as designated under the Defense Production Act.
Among its many mineral deposits, Alaska holds a bountiful reserve of graphite in the aptly named Graphite Creek Project. New estimates suggest that this one reserve alone could provide enough graphite to meet the entire nation’s needs for a century. Yet in recent years, rather than developing these American natural resources, the Biden administration instead frittered away $150 million in taxpayer funds on a loan to a graphite facility in Mozambique—a facility that eventually shuttered operations.
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Leftists believe that ending American production of critical minerals will somehow cure the world’s environmental problems. In reality, it has only moved production overseas, to countries with lower environmental and worker-safety standards. It has also increased our economic dependence on countries with unstable governments—like Mozambique, where the graphite mine was caught up in civil unrest linked to ISIS-affiliated terror groups—or interests opposed to our own, such as China.
Not developing projects like Graphite Creek amounts to waving the white flag of surrender to China in our contest to shape the future of the world economy. Its Communist government has already used critical minerals to engage in economic blackmail, holding access to the minerals hostage to protest American trade policy. Americans should never agree to this extortion—and, by developing our own American resources, we need never do so.
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Thankfully, President Trump understands Alaska’s needs and the imperative for the United States to establish dominance in critical minerals, just as it does in energy. Upon resuming office last year, the president immediately issued an executive order to unleash Alaska’s extraordinary resource potential, because Alaska "holds an abundant and largely untapped supply of natural resources" that "will raise the prosperity of our citizens while helping to enhance our Nation’s economic and national security for generations to come."
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Indeed, developing the Graphite Creek Project will create quality, high-paying jobs right here in Alaska. More importantly, by ensuring that we develop one of the critical minerals integral to the global economy, it will ensure that our nation’s businesses and innovators will have unfettered access to the resources they need.
It’s a simple equation: American energy dominance and American critical-mineral dominance will lead to American economic dominance for decades to come.