Former Governor  Bill Ritter and other advocates of Colorado’s “new energy economy” often use the misguided argument of breaking our dependence on foreign oil as a viable reason for their economically unsound energy policy. Just last November Ritter said:

‘Over the past few years, we’ve established a clean-energy template that is creating thousands of new jobs, reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and generating innovative technologies for the future,’ said Gov. Ritter. ‘The New Energy Economy in Colorado can serve as a pathway for all of America that will lead to greater economic, energy, and environmental security.’

The problem is with what Ritter and others don’t tell you about renewable energy.  It is reliant upon rare earth minerals of which 95 percent come from China. In fact, magnets used to manufacture one wind turbine require two tons of rare earth minerals. Think your Prius is eco-friendly and helps advance “energy independence”? Think again.  It too must have rare earth minerals from China. Check out this eye-opening video about rare earth minerals:

While the global demand for rare earth minerals is projected to grow at eight percent annually, China has kept the growth in supply near zero. Even worse, at times China has imposed embargoes on them to the West.

Bottom line is that Colorado’s new energy economy, which Ritter is trying to export to other states, makes us heavily dependent on China. Oh yeah, and that nasty foreign oil? The two biggest importers of oil into the United States are Canada and Mexico.