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The EPA is in the news with the recent Supreme Court decision saying the they do not have the broad regulatory power that they have been wielding. Clarence Thomas is heading the push back on what he is deeming federal government overreach. This decision should put the power of regulation and legislation back to the legislative branch of the government and away from the executive branch. The basics of the decision, as I understand it, is that environmental protection is not in the scope of power given to the federal government by the bill of rights and, as is listed as number 10 on the bill of rights, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.” So it seems as though Federal environmental protection is possible, but first it must be ammended to the bill rights through the legislative branch and not just snapped into existence by a single elected individual. Many people are frustrated as to how hard it is to amend the bill of rights but it seems to me to be designed that way for a reason. That reason is that it would take a vast majority of the elected officials to agree to make a federal change that affects every citizen of the US, and in turn states could experiment with different solutions and citizens also have the ability to move somewhere that fits their values better or even promote political change in your local area to make your values more present. This seems like a much better solution than making huge decisions on the federal level especially if all that is required is a single signature.
According to Reuters, The European Commission is debating making the changes suggested to them by the European Chemicals Agency, changing the material classification of many of the main compounds used in battery production to hazardous materials. Lithium-ion batteries are made with a lot of different materials but the main one being, of course, lithium. The commission is considering making, lithium chloride, lithium carbonate, and lithium hydroxide require much more personal protective equipment and harsher regulations for storage and transportation of the materials. Both lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide can be used to produce EV batteries, lithium hydroxide is becoming the most preferred of the two. This could mean huge disruptions to EV supply chains as changes would have to be made which takes time and don’t forget tons of money. I could see, if this is accepted, and the precedent is followed elsewhere around the world, all battery prices will most likely skyrocket. That being said we have known of the toxicity of lithium for a long time. A quick google search will reveal some really disturbing facts including that the toxicity mostly affects our kidneys and nervous systems and severe cases will have GI and cardiovascular problems.
Where does most of this toxic lithium come from? South America has the largest known deposits in the world, but most lithium is processed and purchased from, you guessed it, China. China is not exactly known for its environmental and worker safety regulations and I can’t imagine them stopping production. The biggest change would most likely be for the importers of the material. Prices would have to be increased on anything that uses a lithium-ion battery because of the new handling, storage, and transportation regulations that for sure would follow the adoption of this change.
This story seems to pretty much mirror early automotive history, with the adoption of leaded gas. The auto industry new it was toxic and caused all sorts of problems, but it solved the issue of high compression, high horsepower engines. Only after the world lost an estimated 800M IQ points and countless lives to disease and cancer from lead, did we finally acknowledge the issue and pass legislation to limit leaded gasoline. Currently, we are pretty much surrounded by lithium all the time, including holding in your phone’s lithium-ion battery in your hands and up to your head for a significant portion of time every day. I hope we do not find ourselves in the same boat we did with lead, with lithium and forsake our health for one solution to a problem. I guess time will tell.
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