CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Retired Commander of the West Virginia National Guard, Major General Bill Crane will be joining in on discussions regarding the need to strengthen America’s starter battery supply chains.

Crane is going to be a panelist at a CQ/ Roll Call briefing in Washington D.C. on Tuesday morning that’s sponsored by the Responsible Battery Coalition (RBC), who promotes supply chain security for the batteries in American vehicles.

During the briefing, Crane and other officials will not only be discussing battery supply chain necessities, but the importance of bolstering critical mineral production and ensuring national security amid rising global instability.

Crane recently came on MetroNews Midday to talk about everything the panel would be holding discussions on Tuesday.

He said this need of securing supply chains was something that first came about during the height of the Covid-19 Pandemic in 2020 when China was implementing measures that significantly had an impact on global supply.

“We realized how our supply chains are really controlled by China, because we couldn’t get masks, gowns, and all of those medical supplies, and we really learned a lot during that time, and so, it’s the same thing you’re seeing today,” Crane said.

China currently dominates 48% of the global supply.

Now, with two-thirds of U.S. access to critical minerals like antimony, that is used for strengthening batteries in vehicles and devices being cut off, as well as tensions with China escalating, Crane said this conversation is more crucial than ever as it deals with protecting American jobs, industrial capacity, and national security.

Crane said 100% of those Rare Earth minerals are processed in China and are sent back to the U.S.

He said while the U.S. has some processing capabilities, it’s not to the degree that the country needs, and this coalition wants to make sure that we have those capabilities so that we have control over our own supply chains.

“It’s absolutely critical for our defense, every vehicle, every plane has a battery in it, all of our weapons systems have some kind of a rare Earth element piece to it, so again, it’s really critical for us to control those supply chains,” he said.

“We want to build our own stuff here in America so we can trust it and know that it’s safe,” he said.

He added that all of our devices, such as what’s in our solar panels, our iPhones, and our critical infrastructure all contain these elements.

Crane said the next step is in making some kind of investment in ensuring we can process these minerals ourselves and control our own destiny.

He said a promising aspect in potentially solving this issue is found in coal ash, mostly from coal processed right here in Appalachia as it contains a lot of rare earth elements.

“So, you know, what was a by-product of burning coal to produce the power, now you can reprocess it and actually extract rare earth elements out of the coal ash,” he said.

Crane served as the Adjutant General of the West Virginia National Guard from 2021 to 2025 with the Critical Infrastructure Protection Battalion under his command.

He is a 36-year Army veteran and engineer. Once commanding the 111th Engineer Brigade, Crane was instrumental in improving the nation’s homeland defense, emergency response and critical mineral security.

He said Tuesday’s panel will be made up of himself and eight others with expertise all around. Crane further explained how the panel was going to go.

“There’s some folks from Israel, there will be other corporate partners there as well,” Crane said. “We’ve also set up a meeting after the event, we’re going to try and sit and talk with Senator Capito for a little bit and explain that to her as well.”

The event gets underway from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. Tuesday. You can stream the event on securingamericanbattertech.com.