U.S. President Joe Biden could invoke a Cold War-era defense law as soon as this week to encourage the domestic production of minerals needed to make the batteries in electric vehicles, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Such an order under the Defense Production Act is expected to help mining companies extracting lithium, nickel and graphite, cobalt and manganese access government funding.
“As we break our dependence on foreign sources of oil and natural gas, we must ensure that we secure the materials necessary for the clean energy economy in a way that holds to our strong environmental, labor, Tribal engagement standards and does not leave us reliant on unreliable and unsustainable foreign supply chains,” the person said.
