House subcommittee debates how to best procure critical minerals for battery manufacturing

The US is at a crossroads over how it accesses critical minerals, including those used to make battery energy storage systems.

In a contentious House Natural Resources Subcommittee hearing this week, representatives discussed whether the US should avoid purchasing nickel, cobalt, manganese, copper, and other materials from China by mining for them on the sea floor, or recycling and repurposing existing batteries.

And preferred solutions split down party lines: Republican representatives cheered on President Trump’s recent executive order greenlighting deep sea mining in US waters, while Democrats warned of the environmental impacts of deep sea mining and said the process has diminishing returns.

“Deep sea mining is a dirty, destructive, and unproven industry threatening to decimate one of the last untouched ecosystems on earth,” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA), the committee’s ranking member, said. “And despite what proponents claim, it is not the great silver bullet that solves our critical mineral problem. It’s much more likely that it will create a whole new class of problems, especially if it’s pursued in the reckless cowboy manner reflected in President Trump’s imperial edict.”

Huffman also said that because “battery technology is rapidly changing,” deep sea mining may soon be an ineffective way to procure the needed minerals. What would be effective, according to Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-OR), is recycling existing batteries to harvest the nickel and cobalt in them. Startups focused on battery recycling technology have recently achieved major funding milestones, and battery recycling plants are popping up across the US.

“Circular economy technologies [are] growing rapidly,” Dexter said. “We do not need to bulldoze the bottom of the ocean to power our clean energy future.”

Committee Republicans, however, invoked a phrase that has been used to discuss the country’s energy future: an “all of the above approach.” In the same way Republicans in Congress are pushing for an “all of the above approach” when it comes to energy, Committee Chair Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR) said he supports doing the same for mining.

“We have championed an all of the above approach to mineral exploration and extraction policy,” Westerman said. “This approach includes streamlining permitting for terrestrial mining projects and encouraging American companies to continue investing in emerging technologies, which even include space mining.”