Out in the northern desert of Nevada, in an area that suffered greatly during the 2008 collapse of the housing market, a transformation has begun that may establish new standards for cooperation between government and business.

There is good reason for the optimism over the revenue-generating capability of this every day resource. Over the next seven years, worldwide demand for this metal is expected to quadruple as consumers use it for rechargeable capabilities to power phones, computers, and cars...

With the 1972 passage of the Clean Water Act, the federal government officially established the principle that commercial development need not necessarily lead to the degradation of the environment. With the understanding that individual sites may unavoidably suffer adverse effects, subsequent legislation in the years since has led to the creation of mitigation banks, which enable compliance with the CWA’s core mandate of “no net loss” to the environment.