Time to find more sources of rare earths

"Rare earth elements." Does that term mean anything to you? It should.

That's because these elements, 17 obscure little metallic miracles with names like scandium and promethium, make much of our modern life possible. They're used in phones, computers, cancer treatments, flat-screen TVs, hybrid cars, wind turbines, oil refining - and military hardware like missiles and night-vision goggles.

The problem is, we don't own enough of the world's supply of these vital chunks of the Earth.

Guess who does: China.

The United States relies on other countries for more than 90 percent of these elements. And China generates 97 percent of the world's supply.

This situation is a threat to our nation's security, economic well-being and industrial production. The Chronicle reported extensively on this issue in the Sunday Insight section on Nov. 25. In Washington last week, newly elected Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Dublin, introduced a bill to encourage private industry to explore and mine domestic sources of this stuff to reduce our dependence on China's production and also to create jobs by setting up an important new industry.

And it would provide loan guarantees, an important incentive to businesses to jump into this field.

The bill also urges the Department of Energy to set up partnerships with American universities to foster research and development that, in these times of fledgling economic recovery, private companies might not be able to afford. This also could train a new generation of experts in an emerging and important field.

One of the most promising domestic sources of the minerals is the recently reopened Mountain Pass Mine in San Bernardino County. Resources also have been found in Wyoming and a dozen other states. But mining them has not been economically worthwhile; importing from China was easier.

This bill could change that.

Measures similar to this one have stalled or died in the halls of Congress in the past couple of years. This plan deserves attention.

It wouldn't put the government in the mineral business, but it could jump-start a private industry that should make the country more self-reliant.

The possibility of a shortage of these materials is scary - and it has happened before. Developing our own little-known resources of these critical materials, within environmental laws, is a wise idea.

It's time for this idea to break ground.