Countries can rise or fall based on what lies under their feet.
Kingdoms in the Middle East gained power due to their vast reserves of oil. Gold and silver mines drove the populating of parts of the American West.
In the 21st century, rare earth elements may be the essential resources that shape our future as a country.
Rare earth elements are not necessarily as scarce as their name suggests, but they are difficult to obtain and process. They are key ingredients in some advanced manufacturing processes. Your smartphones and televisions likely depend on them.
More importantly, they are used in technology vital to national defense, such as missiles, jet engines, and satellites.
Thus, it is a matter of great concern that the United States heavily depends on rare earth elements from China. The U.S. Geological Survey reports that China produced approximately 84% of the world’s rare earth elements between 2011 and 2017. There have been indications that China could exploit this reliance in its trade negotiations with the Trump Administration. Most relevantly, a tabloid owned by the Chinese Community Party said that could happen.
It is notable that China is talking about such a step. I believe this shows that President Trump is driving a hard bargain.
Nevertheless, Chinese action to curtail our supply of rare earth elements would have serious repercussions for our military preparedness and our economy. We should therefore act to secure a supply here in the United States.
Right now, only one rare earth elements mine is open in the United States, the Mountain Pass mine in California. The Chinese own a minority interest in it, and the elements extracted there are apparently shipped to China for processing. A processing facility at a location in Texas is planned but will not be ready for several years.
The Federal Government should consider what it can do to accelerate mining and processing of rare earth elements within our borders. Finding better ways to develop these resources should be a priority of the U.S. Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency.
There are other paths to a more secure supply of rare earth elements available to us. Some of them may lead to Virginia’s coalfields. As I have written here before, Virginia Tech’s Dr. Roe-Hoan Yoon and the Center for Advanced Separation Technologies has done work on extracting rare earth elements from coal byproducts. They have received federal funding from the Department of Energy.
We must continue to support research into viable technologies to extract rare earth elements from our coalfields and other geological formations in North America.
Because China has already threatened our supply of these valuable resources, we need to start moving now, and move fast.
D-Day Part II
In last week’s column, I noted the upcoming 75th anniversary of D-Day and my plans to attend ceremonies in Normandy marking it. I don’t have the full schedule of events, but if I am in attendance and my duties permit, I intend to visit the Normandy American Cemetery where many of D-Day’s heroes, some from western Virginia, lie.
Friends in Martinsville have asked me to visit the gravesite of Benjamin R. Kearfott, a First Lieutenant in the 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Division.
I learned that Robert Brice, one of the “Boys of Pointe du Hoc” tasked with scaling formidable cliffs on the beach, also lies there. I knew and greatly respected his brother, the late Roanoke Judge Jim Brice, during my law career.
I hope to visit their resting places and others of men from Southwest Virginia. If you know of a gravesite of someone from our area in the Normandy Cemetery, whether killed on D-Day or in the days after as the Allies tried to break out, please call my office promptly and I will try to visit it.
If you are in the area, it would be a good day to visit the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford. Vice President Mike Pence will be a keynote speaker there. More information is available at https://www.dday.org/75th/.
If at all possible, I will try to visit the grave of every boy from Southwest Virginia who lies in the Normandy American Cemetery. It is the least I can do to honor the men who gave so much for us.
If you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my office. You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671. To reach my office via email, please visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov. Also on my website is the latest material from my office, including information on votes recently taken on the floor of the House of Representatives.
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