Reuters provides insight into arctic island finds green power can be a curse

In an insightful report, Reuters illustrated how Greenland, whose rocks are attracting superpowers riding a green revolution, is finding that green power can be a curse. The world’s biggest island has huge resources of metals known as ‘rare earths,’ used to create compact, super-strong magnets, which help power equipment such as wind turbines, electric vehicles, combat aircraft and weapons systems. The metals are abundant globally, but processing them is difficult and dirty. As Greenland’s ice sheet and glaciers recede, two Australia-based mining companies are racing for approval to dig into what the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) calls the world’s biggest undeveloped deposits of rare earth metals. The contest underscores the polluting side of clean energy, as well as how hard it is for the West to break free of China in production of a vital resource.