Greens

As the US looks toward Greentech (wind and solar) a new term has surfaced, something called environmental justice which is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, on income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement laws, regulations and policies. With that mouthful, how does this effect going green. It turns out that in order to replace fossil fuels with wind and solar, there is a need for many metals that can be produced only by mining and therein lies the problem. The US can buy these materials from countries where they are mined or the US can mine them here. These metals are available in the US but most are located on Native American lands. This means years of court cases far into the future and in the meanwhile the US must go to other countries where environmental concerns are not that important. Even though the environmental justice says of all people the same concern for people in other countries will not be followed. OR will the white man once again run roughshod over the Native American. Will the Greenies turn their heads while the courts act quickly to approve the mines. Here in Minnesota there is an example of what to expect. In 1989 PolyMet leases mineral rights from US Steel. In 2000 the company gains rights to the deposits. In 2019 US Army Corp of Engineers approves the permit. In 2021 the MN Supreme Court strikes down the permit.