One such example of the dilemma is southern Utah’s Colt Mesa, which was removed from within the boundaries of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument under the Trump administration and stands to be swept back in under Biden.
Nick Proctor, who with his father owns the Colt Mesa’s mining claims, said the area contains grades of cobalt at higher concentrations than cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which produces more than 60% of the world’s supply via thousands of child laborers.
In fact, some of the world’s largest tech companies like Tesla and Apple are being sued by families of dead or injured children from Congo who worked in the mines. The litigation asserts the companies’ unquenched thirst for cobalt necessary in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries is fostering human rights abuses.
Jean Bentley is a retired nurse from St. Paul who, back in January, picked up a shift at a nearby clinic that was short-staffed for the day.
When her shift was over a little after 5 p.m., she walked out to the parking lot to start her Toyota Prius.
âAnd it just made that bhrum, bhrum, bhrum, bhrum, bhrum [sound],â she said, âlike you don t have a muffler.
Bentley knew immediately what that noise meant. She had friends and neighbors who also had catalytic converters sawed off from their cars. She had insurance to get it fixed, but her deductible was $1,000.