One of Barack Obama’s more ambitious presidential goals thus far is his promise to cut carbon emissions and eliminate oil imports from the Middle East and Venezuela by 2020. One item essential to his plan is the hybrid automobile. As these cars have grown in popularity, scientists have been searching for stronger, more efficient batteries to power them. So far, it appears that the best solution is the lithium-ion power cell. These batteries, which are commonly used in cell phones and laptop computers, boast double the energy capacity of current hybrid power sources. With the demand for eco-vehicles expected to go even higher, the demand for lithium (the battery’s main ingredient) is also projected to quickly outpace the world’s supply.
So, where is all the lithium? The United States is home to only 3 percent of the world’s supply, with mines in Chile, Argentina and China also producing moderate amounts. But one country may hold the key to solving the problem: Bolivia. This South American nation is by itself home to a staggering 50 percent of the world’s known lithium supply, and almost none of it has been mined yet. There’s only one small problem: as a country that has often been subjected to foreign exploitation over the past 200 years, Bolivia is not willing to part with its stockpile of the now precious mineral.
Bolivian President Evo Morales (an open critic of the U.S.) has repeatedly rejected bids from foreign mining companies who wish to extract the lithium. A nationalist sentiment has also sprung up around the country’s newly discovered mineral wealth. In the past few years, President Morales has placed Bolivia’s oil and natural gas industries under government control and has recently indicated a desire to do the same with the country’s lithium reserves. This desire to keep all of the lithium profits inside Bolivia is admirable in concept, but there is a very practical problem in the way. As South America’s poorest and least developed country, Bolivia simply does not have the technology to extract its lithium efficiently or quickly.
I’m not an economist, but it seems like cooperation is the best route here. We need lithium (which Bolivia has), and they need the technology to harvest it (which the U.S. has). This may be a fairly radical notion considering our history of trade with Latin America, but perhaps it is finally time for a fair trade deal (as opposed to a free trade deal). We can help to develop one of the poorest countries in our part of the world, prove that the U.S. isn’t only interested in exploiting Latin America, and take a step toward solving our energy problems too.
Otherwise, we find ourselves in an interesting position. In the process of freeing ourselves from a dependence on foreign oil, a resource controlled by a few wealthy and unfriendly regimes, we may fall into a dependence on foreign lithium, a resource controlled by one poor and unfriendly regime. Which is the least of these evils?
Rod Swainis a senior in international studies. He can be reached at [email protected].
