Rare metals

In a little noticed news item, China has threatened to bargain with rare earth metals. Because the mining of these metals contaminates the environment the US no longer produces any and China has cornered the world market. These elements are needed for wind mills and solar panels and most other electronics. This will cause a conflict with those concerned about the environment in that mining is bad and fossil fuels are bad. If China decides to raise prices the cost of wind and solar will increase and push the economy toward oil and natural gas. In other such conflicts such as wind mills killing birds the news mostly looks the other way.