Having worked in the oil and chemical biz, I could give you plenty of that evidence 1st person. The people on the inside sort of work under a shared mass delusion that they are providing an indispensable service that justifies the social cost, even while taking that judgment unto themselves by concealing facts rather than allowing the society at large to make that decision for itself. (It's not about our profits.....really.....[not])
In the abstract, one must admit that given a oncoming calamity like global warming it would not be irrational for society to judge lithium battery chemistry, or for that matter nuclear power, to be acceptable risks, in the same way we have judged the necessity of personal mobility to be worth the dangers of automobiles. But a society where such decisions are reached in cool analytical deliberation with the Sun shining on the full set of facts is sadly.....utopian.