Rare earth metals

The way environmentalist groups stopped the growth of the nuclear power industry is well documented but that is not the case with rare earth metals. The US was the world leader in rare earth metal production until the 1980’s with the Mountain Pass mine in California being the main producer. In the 1980’s several leaks in a pipeline occurred and then once again pressure from environmental groups pushed the EPA to shut down the mine. It was during this time that China began mining rare earths without regards to the environment and today China produces 95% of the worlds supply. The Halleck Creek rare earth mine in Wyoming is under construction and expected to be operational by 2029. Better late than never but if nuclear power is allowed to expand the need for rare earth metals will decline rapidly since many of these metals are used in electric cars, wind mills and solar panels. When environmentalist shut down an industry, they are not concerned about the environmental problems that will develop by replacement products. This is short sighted thinking to obtain a short-sighted goal. They use fear to get public support much like they have used climate change to get support for wind and solar at the expense of nuclear.