LETTER: Global warming fight must involve mining

Steve Sebelius’ May 7 column amplifies the disconnect between developing materials necessary for us to move away from fossil fuels and our desire to preserve the environment for future generations. On the one hand, environmentalists work to eliminate sources of greenhouse gases to abate the effects of climate change. On the other hand, environmentalists work to preserve the environment as we know it.

Nearly everything that is needed to prevent a warming Earth, by necessity, must come out of the Earth. Recovering minerals can take place only where those minerals are found in the Earth. As with everything material in life, mining comes at some cost. With mining the cost is twofold. There is cost to the environment and the cost of mineral extraction. Neither can be avoided.

Preserving the environment, without mining, will cost us in many ways. What cost will there be as droughts grow, rain patterns change and more air conditioning becomes necessary. A warming climate will have a serious effect on agriculture. The list is endless.

Former water chief Pat Mulroy said it best: “Those who seek to protect the environment by opposing solutions will find they are destroying the very environment they seek to protect.”