DOE's Audrey Robertson on Growing US Critical Mineral Supply

**Audrey Robertson** (0:04)
What our department is looking at is, how can we find solutions that are here, maybe in plain sight, maybe they've been there, but they've never been economic. How do you get those technologies out of the lab and into the hands of entrepreneurs and practitioners and people who want to grow the business?
And critical minerals is a big broad bucket, but really it's these essential components to building the things we need.

**Jason Bordoff** (0:29)
Advanced technologies, a return to domestic manufacturing, the race to control energy production while also confronting surging demand for electricity. All of these factors mean that for the US, energy security and national security are increasingly centered on critical minerals. But despite being rich in mineral resources, the US finds itself in a challenging spot. The processing and refining of vital materials like copper, lithium and graphite is largely done overseas, often heavily concentrated in the hands of global competitors like China. This has sparked an urgent bipartisan push to re-industrialize America and secure the supply chains necessary for everything from military defense, to the AI revolution, to the clean energy economy. But can public sector funding truly act as a catalyst for sustainable private enterprise without over-regulating the market? How much domestic mining, processing and recycling can the US really unlock quickly and safely? And what role can emerging baseload power technologies like advanced geothermal or small nuclear modular reactors really play in meeting our soaring energy needs?
This is Columbia Energy Exchange, a weekly podcast from the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. I'm Jason Bordoff.
Today on the show, Assistant Secretary Audrey Robertson. She is the Assistant Secretary of Energy and leads the Department of Energy's Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation, where Audrey oversees one of the nation's largest energy R&D portfolios. Previously, she co-founded Franklin Mountain Energy, a private oil and gas company in the Permian Basin, where she served as CFO and executive vice president. Before that, Audrey was a managing partner at Copper Trail Partners, an energy private equity platform. Audrey joined me to talk about her office's mission to restructure and secure America's energy supply chains from mining to recycling. We discussed the vulnerabilities in domestic mineral processing, new initiatives like Project Vault, and how the administration views a return on investment for the American taxpayer. Audrey shared why she's bullish on the future of oil and gas, and how emerging technologies from space-based solar to advanced hydropower might define the next generation of energy. I hope you enjoy our conversation.
Assistant Secretary Audrey Robertson, welcome for the first time to Columbia Energy Exchange, but welcome back to the Center on Global Energy Policy. We were honored to have you at our big annual energy conference not long ago, and of course, there's only so much you can get into on a panel, so great to have you back for a deeper conversation.

**Audrey Robertson** (3:07)
Absolutely, Jason. Thank you so much for having me.

**Jason Bordoff** (3:10)
For those who may not be familiar with you or your background or the office, I just want to start there because it's a both interesting background and interesting one to have the portfolio you do now, Investment Banking, Private Equity, Oil and Gas, now responsible for Critical Minerals and Innovation and Affordability and parts of the Electricity System. So just tell everyone a little bit about your background and then how you came to have the role you do now and what spurred the desire to enter the public sector.

**Audrey Robertson** (3:41)
Absolutely. I'm happy to give a quick overview. I am not a traditional member of the Washington Department of Energy crew, if you will. My career, as you mentioned, was in investment banking, private equity. I had my own private equity firm and that rolled into an operating company in the oil and gas space. Most people think oil and gas, what am I doing in this different part of the Department of Energy? But the oil and gas business isn't just about hydrocarbons, although that was our objective was to be the best at producing low cost, highly efficient oil and gas. But we also built a microgrid. We also redesigned lighting. We used advanced materials and pioneered new types of surfactants and different ways to do things in what I would say would be an industry people think is fairly mature. I love the oil and gas business and sold our company that I co-founded at the very first early days of the administration. We actually closed the same week as the inauguration.
I was so grateful for the opportunity to be in this entrepreneurial ecosystem.
A very close friend and business partner, Chris Wright, was nominated to be the Secretary of Energy. And if there was an opportunity for me to give back to the country that I love so much and has given me so much, any opportunity to serve and give back was one I would say best to. And with the Secretary of Right getting confirmed, there was an opportunity to leave Colorado and my kids are out of the house and serve my country. And in coming here, the Secretary had a lot of reorganization plans and ideas on how to take this tremendous resource at the department and really focus in on solving the most critical energy challenges of our generation. And that is around providing affordable, reliable and secure energy, not just in the abstract, but because affordable, reliable and secure energy means reduced poverty, human flourishing. And from the perspective of the United States, it meant that we need all of those things to be a nation of strength, to be a nation that builds things, to win the AI race, to really re-industrialize America. So the office I oversee today is called the Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation. And it's a new office within the department that incorporates several previously, I would say, siloed offices.