Deadly Child Labor Could Be Huge Obstacle for Biden’s Goal of an Electrified American Road

A child walks past a truck carrying rocks extracted from a cobalt mine at a copper quarry and cobalt pit in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on May 23, 2016. Junior Kannah/AFP via Getty Images

A class-action lawsuit on behalf of a group of mothers and children from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) against five U.S.-based Big Tech giants may short-circuit President Joe Biden’s plans to electrify American transportation.

Biden’s American Jobs Plan includes $15 billion to build “a national network of 500,000 charging stations” for the electric vehicles (EVs) he wants Americans to adopt as part of his vision for eliminating the use of fossil fuels. Putting millions of new EVs on U.S. highways means skyrocketing demand for batteries that are at the heart of the litigation.