Understanding the minerals and materials essential for the defense and aerospace sectors and those for energy production and storage.

The U.S. is 100 percent import-reliant on fourteen minerals and metals that are essential for defense technologies, consumer goods and clean energy technology, and 50 percent or more reliant for another thirty, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

These numbers go beyond the recent headlines on rare earths to illustrate fundamental building blocks of the energy transition: lithium, cobalt and nickel for batteries, and materials for solar power and wind turbines. In many of these areas, China has become the dominant world player.

The issue is not geological resource constraints, but on whether domestic focus on mining production, processing and manufacturing should be prioritized.

United States Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, introduced bipartisan legislation in 2018 aimed at bolstering the United States' critical minerals security by reducing dependence on foreign suppliers. The American Mineral Security Act (AMSA) seeks to codify, in part, a 2017 Executive Order by President Donald Trump, with the stated goal of creating a comprehensive approach to protecting domestic mineral resources, as well as the supply chains that refine the raw materials.

Several of these critical minerals – graphite, cobalt, nickel and lithium – form the core of the automotive and energy industries.

U.S. lithium production highlights the need for such legislation. According to some estimates, the U.S. produces just 1% of the global lithium supply (while holding about 13% of the world's lithium resources), whereas China produces roughly 50%. Lithium is a key mineral in the manufacturing of electric vehicle batteries, and many manufacturers, including Tesla, welcome this most recent legislative effort.