The U.S. economy and national defense rely heavily on imports of critical minerals from China, Russia, and other countries with poor records on environmental conservation, human rights, or both.
By the mid-1970s a tipping point had already been reached with more public land withdrawn from mineral development than was accessible for development.
Much the land withdrawn from exploration and mining is in the American Cordillera, the mountain ranges in the western United States and Alaska where mineral deposits of economic significance are…