Sen. Lisa Murkowski has a fresh ask for President Biden after her victory on the Willow oil venture: support for an Alaskan graphite mining project, Jael writes.

Why it matters: Mining is the resource business of the future energy economy. Alaska could play a role, but Murkowski says so far Biden isn't helping to make it happen.

• Graphite is a primary metal in EV batteries used for making anode material. The mineral is mostly mined and refined in China.

Driving the news: Murkowski told Jael she's lobbying the Biden team to help Graphite One, a company developing one of the nation’s few viable graphite mining projects.

• Murkowski wants the Pentagon to back the project under the Defense Production Act — which she hopes eventually means faster permitting — and is seeking Energy Department grants and loans.

Instead of supporting Graphite One, Murkowski said, the Biden administration has backed the U.S. using imported minerals.

• Murkowski pointed to the Energy Department’s decision to give $102.1 million to Syrah Resources for the expansion of a refinery in Louisiana.
• The refinery will get graphite from a region of Mozambique plagued by violence where mining can foster displacement and discontent sometimes exploited by extremist recruiters. (Jael exposed this last year.)
• “That doesn’t seem like an answer that makes a lot of sense,” Murkowski said of the decision to get graphite from a “very, very volatile” region.

Energy Department spokesman Ramzey Smith said the agency's Loan Programs Office "does not comment on applicants or the status of applications, as we consider that information confidential."

• On Syrah, Smith said DOE "conducts rigorous due diligence that includes market reviews and country risk evaluation among other items," and the agency "evaluates and structures loans in a manner to include potential mitigants to potential risks."
• The Pentagon said it couldn't immediately comment on Graphite One.

Between the lines: This push has politics similar to Willow, yet the EV angle might make it easier for Murkowski to notch another win.

• So far Biden has upset Republicans over his handling of Alaska mining potential, including vetoing the Pebble mine and scrutinizing the Ambler road.
• Backing Graphite One would signal that Alaska can progress beyond fossil fuels to EV metals.
• But it could come with a backlash, too — similar to how the Willow move was seen by some as nakedly political.
• "I think there is a political calculus for the White House to do what they did on Willow," Rep. Sean Casten told Nick. "There is no obvious policy calculus."

Reality check: Graphite One sits atop one of the largest graphite deposits in the world but is far from starting its environmental reviews.

• That’s due to many factors, including the costs of a mine in untouched Alaskan tundra and vocal local critics.
• The only other U.S. graphite mining potential is in Alabama — but it could disrupt areas that exemplify what people want climate action to protect.
• Graphite can be made without mining, but that requires fossil fuels.