Hundreds of people descended on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. today to celebrate the passage of a historic law to tackle the climate crisis. "The American people won; the climate deniers lost," President Joe Biden said from the White House South Lawn during what can only be described as a party for the bill, which includes $369 billion in climate and energy funding. The measure could dramatically curb carbon pollution by helping the nation ease off centuries of unearthing and burning fossil fuels. While the Inflation Reduction Act will help keep carbon in the ground, or at least out of the atmosphere, it is also unleashing a new era of industrial extraction — and the fierce competition that comes with new economic opportunities. As POLITICO's E&E News reporter Jael Holzman notes in a story today, the mineral games have already begun. And players from across the political spectrum are looking to cash in. The bill is chock-full of mining industry benefits for companies that can domestically produce the minerals needed for the energy transition. Minerals like lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite are essential ingredients for building electric vehicles and the batteries that power them. Hydrogen fuel cells and solar panels also require their own sets of minerals, like palladium or tellurium. Republican lawmakers are looking to boost a politically connected newcomer: Westwin Elements, a company angling to build the nation's first cobalt processing plant. KaLeigh Long, a well-connected Republican political consultant, started the company this year. Long once led the Conservative Leadership PAC and managed a political consulting firm that has garnered nearly $1 million from Republican campaigns in recent years, Holzman reports. A group of conservative House lawmakers sent letters to both the Energy and Defense departments last week seeking incentives for Long's company. Westwin Elements' management has little experience in mining or metals refining and is largely composed of Republican political operators. But Republicans aren't the only ones pushing for their people. A former House Democrat is lobbying for a different cobalt company, and a former Interior Department official is pushing for a lithium mine in Nevada. The federal investment in mining for clean energy all but guarantees a windfall for the companies that can deliver. Let's just hope the green revolution doesn't follow in the destructive footsteps of the industrial one.
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