Battery Council International supports proposal to boost economic growth and counter unfair foreign competition
Battery Council International (BCI) strongly supports the U.S. Geological Survey’s proposal to add lead to its list of Critical Minerals. BCI has long advocated for this designation because of lead’s vital role in battery manufacturing, and the urgent need to protect millions of jobs that depend on batteries every day.
“Lead batteries play a critical role in the United States economy by starting cars and trucks, power forklifts, providing critical telecom backups, and supporting our power grid,” said BCI’s President and Executive Director Roger Miksad. “Meeting consumers’ needs requires manufacturers to have reliable access to raw materials, and in particular lead metal, which has been under growing pressure for more than twenty years, with domestic metal demand outstripping supply. Designating lead as a critical mineral will help ensure the battery industry has the raw materials it needs to keep America running.”
The U.S. lead battery industry employs 106,050 workers across manufacturing, recycling, transportation and distribution, and other fields. The broader downstream impacts of the domestic battery industry support $10 trillion in U.S. economic output, with over 54 million jobs related to or reliant on batteries.
Given the nation’s widespread dependence on lead batteries, BCI has frequently advocated for this action over the last five years with partners at numerous federal agencies. That includes a 2021 letter to policymakers warning that “the U.S. lead industry’s strong domestic supply chain is under significant threat of becoming increasingly dependent on foreign imports.” That imbalance of trade has only become more pronounced in recent years thanks in part to steadily rising demand for batteries as well as unfair trade practices abroad.
“We applaud USGS, the U.S. Department of the Interior, and our partners in the Trump Administration for prioritizing this important issue and protecting U.S. supply chains,” said Miksad. “U.S. battery companies have powered the nation’s success for more than 100 years, and designating lead as a critical mineral will ensure the battery industry will continue to thrive in the centuries to come.”
###
For more information, contact media@batterycouncil.org.
