MINE EDITION OP-ED: A Deeper Look at Biden's Unrealistic and Hypocritical EV Mandates

In a desperate publicity stunt to sell the American people on the Biden Administration’s push for electric vehicles (EVs), Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm embarked on a four-day road trip through the southeast in an EV. During this trip, Secretary Granholm had what most Americans don’t, which is a paid government team traveling in front of her. It was the job of this advance team to plan her trip and make it appear that driving an EV is without challenges.  

Evidently, this advance team didn’t get the memo about making EVs look good. In rural Georgia, her government-funded team drove ahead in their gas-powered car and blocked off the only charging station in the area until she arrived.

This didn’t go over well with all the families who were forced to wait in the sweltering heat to charge their own EV. It especially upset one of those families who was made to wait in the dangerous heat with their infant child, and the police were called. This debacle underscores just how flawed the thinking is on so many issues when it comes to our federal bureaucrats, their policies, and mandates.

Secretary Granholm’s failed trip also highlights this country’s lack of EV charging infrastructure, which is just one of the many reasons that the Biden Administration’s EV push is problematic and out of touch. However, despite the many issues surrounding a forced transition to EVs, President Biden and leftist politicians across the United States continue to deny reality and embrace California-style EV mandates.

Last April, the Biden Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency proposed a strict new regulation that would require as many as two-thirds of new vehicles sold in the United States to be electric by 2032. And here in Minnesota, Governor Walz and the Democrat legislature are following California’s lead and forcing EVs onto hardworking Minnesotans.

Not long ago, President Biden’s Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, came to Congress to testify before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Deeply disturbed by this Administration’s unfair and unrealistic EV push, I decided to question Secretary Buttigieg about the impact EV mandates would have on my constituents living in northeast Minnesota.

During my line of questioning, I asked the Secretary about the shortcomings of EV batteries in Minnesota’s subzero temperatures. I reminded the Secretary that EV batteries lose up to 50 percent of their range in cold weather, and that he should not force this technology on Minnesotans when it could have such a detrimental impact on their mobility, safety, and livelihoods.

I also raised concern over the steep costs of these vehicles. A large portion of Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District are blue-collar, working-class people who cannot afford, and simply do not want an overpriced and heavily subsidized vehicle that is extremely unreliable in northern climates.

I have no problem with those who freely choose to buy an EV for themselves, but I don’t believe they should be forced upon us like California is currently doing to its citizens. I believe in consumer choice. And this is why I am adamantly opposed to EV mandates at any level of government. The American people – not the government – should have the right to decide what vehicle best fits their family’s needs.

I also take great issue with the hypocrisy of this Administration’s EV push. While they continue to pressure Americans to buy this so-called clean energy technology, the fact remains that their anti-mining policies force us to rely even more on China, the world’s biggest polluter, for the resources necessary for EVs.

For example, the cobalt and nickel used in EV batteries almost entirely comes from Chinese-run mines located in countries like Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Despite the lack of environmental standards and the documented evidence of child slave labor, the Biden Administration has turned a blind eye, even going so far as to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Congo to further expand our reliance on Chinese-derived cobalt. And now this Administration is seeking to sign an agreement with Indonesia before year’s end, making our nation further reliant on the world’s biggest polluters for the skyrocketing mineral demand.

It doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, the answer to many of President Biden’s EV and mineral woes are right here in the United States.

America is home to a vast abundance of mineral wealth, including Minnesota’s Eighth Congressional District. The Duluth Complex, located on the historic Iron Range, is the world’s largest copper-nickel find in the world. Yet, this Administration caved to radical activists who oppose any type of mining by canceling long held mineral leases and declaring a mining moratorium in the Duluth Complex. This Administration also recently revoked the Clean Water Permit for NewRange.

The Biden Administration has not moved forward to open a single domestic mine, and has instead moved us backward nationwide. From Alaska to Arizona, the Biden Administration has sided with anti-mining activists to slow and kill every domestic mining project that has come before them, further solidifying our reliance on adversarial nations like Communist China and Russia. President Biden’s mining policy is “anywhere but America, any worker but American.”

During the hearing with Secretary Buttigieg, I finished my line of questioning by asking why the Administration he works for chooses to rely on foreign countries with poor environmental and labor standards, rather than the American worker, who we know can responsibly and ethically source these minerals domestically. To the surprise of no one, Secretary Buttigieg was unwilling to answer my question.

As the President and his Administration continues to turn a blind eye to the multiple problems with their EV mandates, rest assured that I will not. In Congress, I will continue to fight for consumer choice as well as policies that empower American miners to finally develop our vast mineral wealth.

We must stop relying on the biggest polluters on the planet for our critical minerals. Until the minerals used in EVs are developed here in America under the best environmental and labor standards in the world, they cannot truly be considered “clean energy” technology.