"MOUNTAIN PASS, Calif. -- About an hour's drive southwest of Las Vegas, on a private 2,200-acre desert patch flanked by Clark Mountain and the Mojave National Preserve, lies an idled mine many consider to be a linchpin in the U.S. push for energy independence and national security.

The Mountain Pass mine, once the world's leading producer of 'rare earth' minerals used to manufacture cutting-edge weapons and clean energy technologies, shuttered operations here in 2002 after Chinese producers undercut its prices and a series of environmental spills stalled the renewal of state mining permits."

Phil Taylor reports for Greenwire July 23, 2010.
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