A group of environmental and civil society organizations is fighting for better working conditions for people in countries that supply critical minerals to the United States.

Nickel, cobalt, lithium and other minerals are mined and shipped to the United States for use in manufacturing electric vehicles, long-storage batteries, microchips and solar panels.

Clayton Tucker, climate organizer for the nonprofit Trade Justice Education Fund, said conditions in countries where the minerals are mined do not meet U.S. standards.

"Mining cobalt, there's artisan mines, and child slavery is very, very commonly used," he said. "With nickel, in Indonesia to mine that you basically have to raze entire parts of the jungle and raze basically entire indigenous communities. "

Almost 219,000 electric vehicles are registered in the state of Texas, and the Department of Transportation is working on infrastructure to increase the number of charging stations across the state. Several nonprofits in Texas recently received federal grant funding to install solar panels in low-income neighborhoods, increasing the number of households using the clean energy.

Tucker and representatives from 38 other groups recently testified at a hearing with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, calling for more stringent requirements for future Critical Mineral Agreements between the United States and other countries.

The only CMA that currently exists is between the United States and Japan. The U.S. trade representative has said the agreement strengthens and diversifies critical minerals' supply chains and promotes the adoption of electric vehicle battery technologies. But the environmental groups have said the agreement doesn't go far enough to ensure that workers and the environment are protected and that it sets a concerning precedent.

Tucker said the contracts come with certain perks, and the United States needs to leverage its power "because we need these minerals.

"We're basically trying to make sure that if you receive a subsidy, a tax credit or any form of other support," he said, "that you play by our rules with climate protections, that you play by our rules with labor protections."

The organizations want to be part of future CMA negotiations between the United States and other countries.

Conservation groups are circulating a petition asking the feds to give "America the Beautiful National Parks and Recreation Lands" passes to new citizens at their naturalization ceremony. Members of the group GreenLatinos have met with multiple federal agencies to pitch the idea.

Louis Medina, communications and philanthropy director with the nonprofit Friends of the Inyo, said it would make a great "Welcome to America" gift.

"It would be a great way of giving them the best that America has to offer. It could instill greater patriotism and pride, and it could create new allies in the environmental movement," Medina contended.

The pass normally costs $80 per year and gets one car with up to four adults into all national parks and monuments. Last year, more than 878,000 people became U.S. citizens.

The group also wants to start holding naturalization ceremonies at sites on public lands. And they'd like to reverse the trend of national parks going "cashless," as they have at Yosemite and Death Valley.

Medina added parks may save money by requiring everyone to pay by card, but it risks turning people away who don't have credit cards or mobile payment apps.

"For communities of color and immigrant communities that already are having issues in accessing our national parks, because of costs, because of distance, or because of lack of familiarity, then cashless entry creates yet another barrier," he continued.

The petition currently sports more than 900 signatures and is available on the GreenLatinos website.


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The new Buffalo Bills stadium may not be the best environmentally but it has some green qualities.

The steel for the stadium is being made locally and climate-consciously, using an electric-arc furnace. Studies show the process emits 75% less carbon than traditional steel manufacturing.

Brian Raff, vice president of sustainability and government relations for the American Institute of Steel Construction, said there are outside benefits to using electric-arc furnace steel.

"The supply chain for EAF steel is just a circular economy," Raff pointed out. "Everything that is waste, considered waste at one point, gets put back into the supply stream, gets shredded, melted down, and then made into new steel over and over and over."

Some downsides to electric-arc furnace steel are higher impurities and inclusions, and uneven heat distribution.

Other environmental benefits of the new stadium include reduced water usage, better stormwater flow, and a modern electrical system. The stadium will have 14% fewer spectators, also reducing other environmental impacts. Highmark Stadium will be completed in 2026.

Beyond the environmental impacts, the new stadium's construction creates 10,000 union labor jobs for western New York, and 60% of the 25,000 tons of the steel used for the stadium will be developed in New York.

Raff emphasized making the steel locally will have an economic ripple effect.

"25,000 tons of steel means millions of man-hours, and so that means it's going to keep those fabrication companies moving," Raff explained. "Cash is coming in the door, which means they're able to pay their employees. All of that money will be saved and spent in the local economies."

The project also creates greater opportunities for minority, women and veteran-owned businesses. An important part of the labor agreement negotiations was having local workers involved in the new stadium's construction.


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Environmental groups say more should be done to protect people's health from what they call toxic, radioactive sludge.

A court granted a temporary restraining order against Austin Master Services, a fracking waste-storage facility in Martin's Ferry, at the request of Ohio Attorney General David Yost.

Ohio has some of the least-restrictive rules on fracking waste, said Jill Hunkler, director of the local advocacy group Ohio Valley Allies. She said this makes communities "dumping grounds" for the byproducts of fracking, and residents are often left to educate themselves on the risks of living near fracking operations and waste sites.

"We can see firsthand how dangerous these facilities were and how poorly they were operating," she said, "and right within 500 feet of the drinking water supply for 5 million people, which is the Ohio River."

At a city council meeting, residents voiced their concerns about water-supply safety and ongoing health risks for neighboring communities.

In a legal complaint, the AG's office said the Martin's Ferry facility has exceeded the amount of waste it's permitted to store by thousands of tons.

Austin Master Services could not be reached for comment. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources maintains there's no evidence the waste has affected public health.

Hunkler said a judge ordered Austin Master Services to clean up the excess waste at a recent hearing, but the company said it didn't have the money to do so.

"It's just a very good example of the failure here to adequately regulate and enforce and protect the communities from this toxic industry," she added.

According to Food and Water Watch, fracking waste contains a mixture of heavy metals, brines, volatile organic compounds, carcinogens and naturally occurring radioactive contaminants. Yale University research has linked exposure to some of these substances to reproductive and developmental problems.


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