The batteries in your cell phone, the glass in solar panels and other important materials all depend on rare earth minerals. That鈥檚 leading to a new mining rush in the West.

Late last week, Arizona Congressman Ra煤l Grijalva and New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich introduced the Clean Energy Minerals Reform Act. It would make a number of changes to the Mining Law of 1872, including the collection of royalties from hardrock mining.

So-called Repair Cafes have a simple goal: pairing people and their broken household belongings with tinkerers and tools to fix them, thus shrinking the flow of waste to landfills. The idea started in Europe, but has spread to the U.S. and cafes are starting to pop up in the American West.