In another instance of Democrats blocking access to America's vast mineral reserves and natural resources, the Biden administration signed off this week on a 20-year mining ban.

Fox News reported that on Thursday, the  Department of the Interior (DOI) "announced that it would complete a 20-year withdrawal of 225,504 acres in a northern Minnesota forest area that is home to some of the largest domestic critical mineral reserves."

Environmentalists' concerns with any future mining activity, so they said, was that it would "contaminate" the surrounding habitat and watershed of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Duluth, Minnesota.

The Biden administration announced it will impose a 20-year mining moratorium on thousands of acres of land in #Minnesota by citing the need to protect the environment.

Critics insist that mining is necessary for the country’s mineral security. https://t.co/H5XC4DrJOd

— The Epoch Times (@EpochTimes) January 28, 2023

The DOI released a statement explaining why it took such actions.

"The Department of the Interior takes seriously our obligations to steward public lands and waters on behalf of all Americans. Protecting a place like Boundary Waters is key to supporting the health of the watershed and its surrounding wildlife, upholding our Tribal trust and treaty responsibilities, and boosting the local recreation economy," DOI Secretary Deb Haaland said.

She added: "With an eye toward protecting this special place for future generations, I have made this decision using the best-available science and extensive public input."

The area banned from being mined for the next two decades, as the Biden administration and Democrats push the green energy scam on Americans, ironically is rich in the very resources needed to build green energy infrastructure, like windmills.

Fox News noted: "However, Twin Metals' mining project contained about 88% of the nation's cobalt reserves in addition to vast copper, nickel and platinum-group elements. Such critical minerals are vital for various green energy technologies like electric vehicle batteries, battery storage facilities, solar panels and wind turbines, which the Biden administration has aggressively pushed."

While it might sound obvious that such a move would only hurt the left's push to build out their green energy fantasy, there's been a solution the entire time: China.

The communist country sits atop the leaderboard when it comes to global mineral markets, and has a firm grasp on it.

It's very similar to how the United States has arguably the largest underground oil reserves in the world, yet we strictly limit access to those resources and instead purchase our oil from the Middle East and South America.

The banning of mining operations also hurts local job economies, which the Biden administration seems to be getting quite good at doing.

Hopefully, Americans elect a strong Republican president and take over both the House and Senate so that we can start reversing this nonsense and get this country back to greatness and energy independence.