In 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) imposed an oil embargo against the United States, triggering a crude oil crisis that sent the U.S. economy into a recession.
Move over OPEC, today, the “green” revolution to occasionally generated electricity from wind and solar has the world on the cusp of a Green Embargo by China that may trigger financial crisis that could send the U.S. economy into a recession.
50 years ago, in the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis in 1977, the Department of Energy (D.O.E) was established to lessen our dependence on foreign locations for America’s energy independence but today, with its 14,000 employees and a 2024 budget of $52B dollars, the D.O.E. continues to remain dead silent and has allowed foreign nations to take control of California, and for China to monopolize the supply chain of minerals and metals for America to achieve it’s “green” policies.
Environmentalists’ vision just toward the wealthier countries on this planet that can afford the cost of regulations for the environmental movement to large batteries for electric cars, trucks, buses, and for electricity to be generated occasionally by wind turbines and solar panels, is tunnel vision that is hypocritical, unethical, and immoral.
Today, a typical EV battery weighs 1,000 pounds and contains:
It should concern everyone that all those “blood minerals” come from mining at locations in the world that are never seen by environmentalists, policymakers, or EV buyers.
EV’s are heavily subsidized in multiple ways: through direct federal and state tax benefits to purchasers, through government loan incentives to manufacturers, and through added production costs passed on to gasoline vehicle purchasers.
Both China and Africa have minimal labor and environmental laws, resulting in extensive environmental degradation and humanity atrocities that support “clean” EV batteries. Both Lithium and Cobalt, the major components of the EV battery, are noted on The Periodic Table of Endangered Elements as having a limited availability or experiencing a rising threat from increased usage.
It appears that it is both unethical and immoral to continue financially encouraging China and Africa to exploit “their” poor with yellow, brown, and black skin, and financially supporting environmental degradation to “their” landscapes just to support clean EV batteries in “our backyards”!
The D.O.E. silence has become deafening while America is coming up on three and a half years into the Biden presidency — a presidency which from the outset promised an “all of government” regulatory onslaught to force a transition away from fossil fuels and to “green” electricity. And the regulatory onslaught on fossil fuels has provide incentives for China to attain control of America’s green movement toward electricity!
China is positioned to adversely influence lithium-ion battery production worldwide. China has monopoly control over processed graphite, an essential component of almost all lithium-ion batteries. Virtually all processed graphite, natural and synthetic, is made in China then exported to the battery makers worldwide.
These batteries are used universally in electric and electronic devices, from cell phones and watches to EVs and huge grid-scale backup batteries; there are numerous essential military uses, as well.
China is just now beginning to implement an export control program for processed graphite. By controlling exports, China could, to a significant degree, adversely influence much lithium-ion battery production, such as by raising prices to selected producers or even blacklisting entire countries.
Thus, the potential adverse impact of the Chinese monopoly power is enormous. What they will do remains to be seen, but the threat is very real. A lot has been written about China’s market power in other crucial materials like cobalt and rare earths. But these cases are weak compared to its monopoly in processed graphite.
In both cases, China is a major player, coincidentally producing about 70% of processed cobalt and 70% of rare earths. Numbers like this are nothing like monopoly control, as there are a lot of other suppliers. In fact, China consumes most of its production because it makes a lot of lithium-ion batteries. It is a net importer of rare earths.
China’s stranglehold monopoly on the global supply of rare earth minerals and metals for the “green” movement to EV’s, and the generation of electricity by wind and solar is a clear and potential “embargo” danger to the American and World economies. To reiterate, move over OPEC, the next foreign embargo may be a “GREEN” Embargo by China!
Please share this information with your friends to encourage energy literacy conversations at the family dinner table.
A Green Embargo By China Would Trigger Financial Crisis Imploding US Economy – OpEd
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07.05.2024
In 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) imposed an oil embargo against the United States, triggering a crude oil crisis that sent the U.S. economy into a recession.
Move over OPEC, today, the “green” revolution to occasionally generated electricity from wind and solar has the world on the cusp of a Green Embargo by China that may trigger financial crisis that could send the U.S. economy into a recession.
50 years ago, in the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis in 1977, the Department of Energy (D.O.E) was established to lessen our dependence on foreign locations for America’s energy independence but today, with its 14,000 employees and a 2024 budget of $52B dollars, the D.O.E. continues to remain dead silent and has allowed foreign nations to take control of California, and for China to monopolize the supply chain of minerals and metals for America to achieve it’s “green” policies.
Environmentalists’ vision just toward the wealthier countries on this planet that can afford the cost of regulations for the environmental movement to large batteries for electric cars, trucks, buses, and for electricity to be generated........
© Eurasia Review
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