We need electric vehicles to fight climate change, and that means a lot of mining for minerals like lithium and graphite for the batteries. It’s better if that mining happens in the US rather than overseas, where worker and environmental protections may be weaker. But we still need to improve mining processes here.

My new op-ed in The Hill has recommendations on how to do so, following the release of a new federal interagency report on mining. The report calls for permitting agencies to conduct better upfront planning to ensure new mining activity is not sited in sensitive areas that would likely produce conflict, litigation and delay. To do this, I argue:

Specifically, the country can take its cue from California, where a public-private partnership among state government, academic institutions and nonprofits pioneered a stakeholder-led process to map lands for large-scale solar development in key regions in the state. That process resulted in the identification of hundreds of thousands of “least conflict” acres, which participants as diverse as Tribes, ranchers, endangered species advocates and developers agreed would be feasible to develop without harming communities or important resources. This approach is now being replicated in other states.

If we can pull this process off in this country, the result would be fewer conflicts, a more sustainable supply chain for EV batteries, and economic and environmental wins for the communities surrounding mines, including many tribal and rural communities. And maybe it could provide a model for other jurisdictions to follow suit, as the world undergoes a dramatic and badly needed transformation in its vehicle fleet to EVs.