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1) In a surprising reversal, the US Forest Service told the federal court that it is not sure whether it can approve the land swap involving the US government and Rio Tino when it comes to the Resolution Copper project in Arizona. US Congress approved the land swap after an environmental report was published in 2014. President Joe Biden unpublished the report in March of 2021 to give his administration time to review concerns that were raised by Native Americans. There were some rumors that the environmental report will be republished in the coming weeks, with several Rio Tinto executives planning trips to Arizona. However, it seems that the government is still talking to Native American groups in the area to discuss the project further. “It’s quite unusual for the government to have to take back something their attorney told the court under questioning,” said Luke Goodrich of Becket Law, a religious liberty legal group involved in the case. The mayor of Superior, the town where the mine sits closest to, supports the mine and the economic development it can provide. Mila Besich, the Democratic mayor of Superior, said "every time there’s another delay to this process means that investors in our community may decide this isn’t the place to invest because the federal government can’t make up its mind."
2) The United States and Australia will enhance bilateral cooperation under a Climate, Critical Minerals and Clean Energy Transformation Compact. The Compact is a framework that will include coordinating policies and investments and expansion of the vertical supply chain for green technologies. The efforts will be directed at developing industrial bases including wind, solar, energy storage like batteries and hydrogen materials. “This is aimed at enhancing two-way investment flows between the financial sectors of both countries. Discussions should include government financing bodies including but not limited to the US Export-Import Bank and Export Finance Australia. This work seeks to support the expansion of emerging industries, availability of critical minerals, and cost reductions of clean energy in our countries and globally,” the statement read.