Great discussion by Cal and okiedo. I agree fully with their assessment that the sooner the split occurs the better. Until quite recently we were debating whether or not a split would occur, but many here seem to be gelling around the notion that it is necessary, inevitable and imminent. 

A contributor on TOB asked a serious question about what might happen to LAC SP should control of Congress flip in November and most people there agreed that really nothing should happen because both sides generally support a US battery supply chain. But, this article raises the specter of the focus of oversight committees changing and LAC as currently structured may come into their crosshairs by the end of this year. This could be a catalyst to speed up the transition. 

On a tangential note, and further discussion would be best placed on the Off Topic Forum, the article discusses graphite and the fact that Syrah Resources' Louisiana plant sources its raw graphite from Mozambique, a particularly problematic region. As far as I know this is the only plant in North America that produces coated spherical graphite that is anode ready. 

Graphite isn't as sexy as lithium but for the foreseeable future will remain a critical ingredient in EV batteries. A graphite company that I have always regarded as the graphite equivalent to LAC is Nouveau Monde in Quebec (NOU in Canada, NMG in the US). They have huge raw resources in Quebec and are fully permitted for their first mine and for their spherically coated graphite anode plant. They're just awaiting a confirmed offtake agreement and financing, expected by early next year at the latest, and then they're off to the races to becoming the only integrated anode graphite producer in North America, with the only other producers in the world being in China and Sweden. 

Sorry for the plug but I wanted to bring to the attention of the early adopters in lithium investing this similar opportunity in the graphite space. Last I'll mention it.