Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Critical Mineral Mining Grant
Introduction
This project examines environmental justice concerns of mining for critical minerals in US communities; the nature and outcomes of responses to them; and how they compare across factors of Indigenous/non-Indigenous and rural/urban communities, and active/developing mines. We also investigate how these concerns are understood and addressed within the broader political economy of the clean energy transition in the US. We do so through analysis of three representative case studies; interviews in Washington, DC with policymakers, industry leaders, and civil society representatives; and in-depth document analysis. The research products will contribute scholarly understanding of the local impacts of mining within the specific emerging context of the clean energy transition in the United States to literatures on political ecology, environmental justice, and extractive industries. In addition, the project will produce practically useful knowledge for communities, industry, and government in field sites who directly affect and are affected by these issues, as well as policy leaders in DC who affect them at broader scales of impact and analysis.
Project Team
Dr. Robert Orttung
The George Washington University
Dr. Lydia Jennings
Dartmouth College
Dr. Scott Odell
The George Washington University
- Research Assistants
- Sophie Holtzman, The George Washington University
- Isabelle Jennings, Dartmouth College
- Bridget Kinnaman, The George Washington University