To increase the US energy independence, President Joe Biden, on 1st April, invoked the DPA to push for the mining and processing of minerals required for battery manufacturing used in electric vehicles and energy storage.

Overview

The United States depends on unreliable foreign sources for many of the strategic and critical materials necessary for the clean energy transition, such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite, and manganese for large-capacity batteries. Demand for such materials is projected to increase exponentially as the world transitions to a clean energy economy.

Invoking this Act will help support the production and processing of these minerals. However, as per the statement of the White House, the Department of Defense will follow strong environmental, labor, safety, tribal consultation, and impacted community engagement standards to rebuild and maintain American expertise and productive capacity in these critical sectors.

The complete statement can be read here.