Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios
Automakers are joining the mining industry to push for the Inflation Reduction Act to cover expenses for mineral extraction.
Why it matters: Companies behind the burgeoning U.S. electric vehicle supply chain are joining hands to make a big ask of the Treasury Department — with uncertain odds of success.
- Who's on Monday's Treasury letter, according to a copy reviewed by Axios: the National Mining Association and American Exploration and Mining Association, as well as General Motors, Tesla and the Zero Emission Transportation Association, which represents EV startups.
Catch up quick: Mining companies lost out on a tax break they thought they were getting in the IRA, when the Treasury Department said it would not allow costs associated with extraction to qualify for the 45X battery credit.
- Treasury said it didn't do what industry expected because of difficulties in avoiding waste and abuse.
Driving the news: The associations and EV manufacturers requested that implementation of the 45X credit be modified to account for "direct and indirect material costs" from extraction.
- As proposed, the companies and groups argue, the credit's implementation would amount "to a missed opportunity to incentivize the development of a domestic critical minerals supply chain."
What we're watching: what climate advocates say about this, if anything.
