New research shows wastewater from fracking operations in the Marcellus Shale could hold a goldmine of a mineral critical to America’s green energy future.
A PhD student at the University of Pittsburgh working with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Lab (NETL) found Marcellus Shale wastewater contained amounts of lithium similar to that found in brine ponds in Chile, which is one of the top producers of the mineral in the world.
Without lithium, electric cars don’t have batteries, nor do the myriad devices that are integral to U.S. society and its economy. U.S. consumption of lithium has skyrocketed over the last decade as the push to shift away from coal and natural gas and into electrification of the nation’s grid has taken hold.
The NETL study estimated there’s enough lithium that could be extracted from the Marcellus Shale wastewater to provide nearly 40 percent of the domestic demand for the mineral.
In 2010, the U.S. consumed 1,100 metric tons of lithium, according to Statista. By 2022, that was up to more than 3,000 metric tons being used to power rechargeable batteries for mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras, and electric vehicles.
“NETL is searching for unconventional sources (non-typical sources such as a traditional mine) for lithium and other critical minerals,” lead researcher Justin Mackey told InsideSources. “This study highlights the potential from one type of lithium source, in one area of the U.S. So, this study shows that given the right extraction method, Marcellus wastewater can make significant contributions to the growing US lithium demand, and we anticipate an even broader impact when we incorporate other unconventional sources.”
In the 1990s, the U.S. was the largest producer of lithium. Today, that has shifted to Australia, Chile, and China, according to the World Economic Forum. Those three countries now account for more than 90 percent of all lithium. In 2010, one of the world’s richest lithium brine deposits was discovered in Salar de Atacama, Chile.
While the U.S. maintains strong relationships with Australia and Chile, the relationship with China is much more delicate. China also holds a near monopoly on processing rare earth minerals, an area also critical for cell phones, computer hard drives, electric vehicles and modern TVs.
The U.S. also relies on Russia for lithium, a nation that’s both an unreliable source and a national security threat.
Americans hoping U.S. mining will meet the demand may be disappointed without a change in policy, says National Mining Association president Rich Nolan. According to the NMA, it takes an average of 29 years in America to bring a new mine online.
“To say that the U.S. is underperforming when it comes to domestic mineral production is putting it kindly,” Nolan said. “We have the proven reserves to be a global leader in producing the full range of minerals needed for our manufacturing and energy future, but our permitting and legal systems have imposed an unacceptable three decades – on average – of impediments to that potential.
“Given the urgent global mineral demand, and China’s determination to only tighten its stranglehold on mineral supply chains, we must do better.”
Lithium from fracking offers an opportunity for the U.S. to “do better,” advocates say, but there may be a new obstacle on the political horizon:
Vice President Kamala Harris.
Harris, who is almost certain to be the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, is a vocal opponent of fracking.
“There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking,” Harris said during a 2019 CNN town hall. She was also an initial sponsor of the Green New Deal legislation that would end fracking entirely.
Dave Callahan, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, highlighted the importance of a stable, steady stream of lithium.
“In addition to assuring a domestic supply of a much-needed mineral resource, NETL’s research further demonstrates the importance of investing in hydrocarbon resource development and utilization for economic and environmental progress,” he said. “Electric power, motor fuels, plastics and petrochemicals, hydrogen and now lithium are a few of the many benefits of domestic natural gas development and its ever-expanding role in providing for a more sustainable and secure energy future for our country.”
Meanwhile, Pennsylvania Republicans say that, with or without lithium mining, a fracking ban would be a fiasco.
“A fracking ban would be disastrous for workers and families, and extreme Democrats’ mission to force Biden to step aside and replace him with San Francisco radical Kamala Harris shows exactly how out of touch they are with their voters,” Republican state Rep. Rob Mercuri, who is challenging first-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio in western Pennsylvania, told Fox News.
GOP U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick linked Harris’s anti-fracking stance to his Democratic opponent, Sen. Bob Casey, who has endorsed her.
“Their radical anti-fossil fuel agenda would be disastrous for commonwealth families, hurt the environment, and endanger our national security,” McCormick told InsideSources.
But there are still technological hurdles ahead, Mackey said.
“It’s safe to say this is still in the early stage of this type of lithium ‘mining’ and the technologies are continuously being improved and developed to meet the specific need,” Mackey said. “These methods are fairly complicated and need to be tailored to the specific chemistry of the water to be treated. As such, their effectiveness needs to be rigorously tested to make valid claims.”
Jessica Towhey writes on education and energy policy for InsideSources.
Reprinted with Permission from DC Journal – By Jessica Towhey
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
The worldwide markets are currently awash in an excess supply of lithium due to the fact that most people around the world have refused their various government mandates to abandon reliable and less expensive ICE vehicles in favor of more expensive, shorter range and near zero effective resale value EVs. So, the overall market has spoken, despite the wishes of those pulling the strings of the politicians pushing an all-electric future for personal and commercial transportation.
No doubt if any Democrat occupies the Oval Office after this next election, I fully expect any Democrat administration to turn to more forceful measures here in the United States to force the transition to EVs that their major financial donors want. A combination of some new EPA regulations, coupled with some draconian executive orders from the WH, that would effectively lead to a de-facto ban of ICE vehicles from operating on American roads in a relatively few short years. When a nudge doesn’t get the Democrats what they want, they are more than happy to use more direct means to force through what they want. They don’t care about the consequences to the average American, since all they are concerned with is advancing the agenda of their major financial donors and that agenda is copying the same path that they have already gotten most of western Europe to adopt over the last decade.
As to allowing mining for lithium in Pennsylvania, if this Democrat administration maintains its current anti-mining agenda for virtually all things at this point, then NO of course they will obstruct domestic mining operations of any large scale. They may allow a very small pilot program in PA to mollify the locals, but it will be one of those multi-year test programs that goes on in seeming perpetuity with no federal government approval to ever go large scale. The left wants us relying on China for almost all things related to their desired all-electric future. If we were to become more self-reliant from China in this area, that would undermine the fragile Chinese economy and jeopardize the investments China has already made in its Belt and Road initiatives around the world since 2011. The entire Chinese plan for world domination by 2050 hinges on the continued transfer of more and more of the West’s total wealth to fund China’s ascension and weaken the rest of the world in the process. A lot of major Democrat donors in this country alone have billions tied up in the success of China at the expense of the United States and the other G7 nations. Always follow the money and all the points that money touches along the way to see why certain administrations enact particular policies and regulations. It greatly simplifies the whole geopolitical map of the world.
Sorry if this got a little too technical in the last paragraph for some, but I thought it was important to clarify why certain political actions and policies currently exist that seem to contradict sound domestic economic and national security policies from a national perspective.
If elected, will Harris shut it down?
Is the Pope Catholic?
(Do you ever wonder why China’s Xi Jinping almost always grins like a cheshire cat?)
Anything that is American or Benefits Americans the Communist liberals are against. They have Destroyed our economy and country as much as they can and continue to do so. Even when they don’t get their way on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling
they want to change it to benefit them only regardless of the consequences as long as they stay in power and control.
So, of course Communist harris will destroy jobs in the USA and give them to Communist China. We have been watching Dictator Beijing biden doing this for over 3 and half years. Why would Communist harris be any different?
Let me know if any of you Mature American Citizens want any facts on domestic lithium production.
yes she will shut it down because she opposes fracking.
Much of relevance missing from this article. Start with the fact that comments by anyone in the mining or fracking industry are going to be parsed in such a way as to mislead readers. Then let’s go on to the fact that the economics of DLE from frack water will not be competitive, anywhere. There will be a number of areas across the country where oil field brines will contain not only a much higher concentration of lithium in solution but a much greater volume of water. SW AR and E TX are the focus of DLE operations from the Smackover formation. The fact that Exxon Mobil is one of the major players there is significant. No fracking required and three to four times the lithium concentration.
If the princess is opposed to fracking kick her out of the palace and force her to live in the cave and walk everywhere. That will be environmentally correct. Let her and any of them live by what they preach but not follow. Liars and hypocrites