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US Pulls Authorization for Lithium Exploration Project in Southern Nevada, Citing Wildlife (apnews.com) 145

Posted by EditorDavid from the yours-and-mines dept.
Tuesday North America's largest lithium mining operation cleared its last legal hurdle in federal appeals court, giving a green light to the mining of 6,000 acres in an 18,000-acre project site near Nevada's northern border.

But meanwhile, in Southern Nevada... Federal land managers have formally withdrawn their authorization of a Canadian mining company's lithium exploration project bordering a national wildlife refuge in southern Nevada after conservationists sought a court order to block it.

The Center for Biological Diversity and the Amargosa Conservancy said in a lawsuit filed July 7 that the project on the edge of the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge outside Las Vegas posed an illegal risk to a dozen fish, snail and plant species currently protected under the Endangered Species Act. They filed an additional motion this week in federal court seeking a temporary injunction prohibiting Rover Metals from initiating the drilling of 30 bore sites in search of the highly sought-after metal used to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles.

But before a judge in Las Vegas could rule on the request, the Bureau of Land Management notified Rover Metals on Wednesday that its earlier acceptance of the company's notice of its intent to proceed "was in error... The agency has concluded that proposed operations are likely to result in disturbance to localized groundwaters that supply the connected surface waters associated with Threatened and Endangered species in local springs," said Angelita Bulletts, district manager of the bureau's southern Nevada district...

Conservationists said the reversal provides at least a temporary reprieve for the lush oasis in the Mojave Desert that is home to 25 species of fish, plants, insects and snails that are found nowhere else on Earth — one of the highest concentrations of endemic species in North America at one of the hottest, driest places on the planet.
The article ends with this quote from a director at the Center for Biological Diversity and the Amargosa Conservancy. "We need lithium for our renewable energy transition, but this episode sends a message loud and clear that some places are just too special to drill."
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US Pulls Authorization for Lithium Exploration Project in Southern Nevada, Citing Wildlife More

US Pulls Authorization for Lithium Exploration Project in Southern Nevada, Citing Wildlife

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  • Love those environmentalists... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by bradley13 ( 1118935 ) on Monday July 24, 2023 @04:29AM (#63710580) Homepage

    Ah, environmentalists. Ya gotta love 'em. They are blocking even exploration for possible lithium extraction, for a site that is not even part of the wildlife refuge.

    "We want EVs, stop burning fossil fuels!" Ok, we need lithium, here's a mine. "No! Not like that!"

    It's the same every time. "We want green power!". Ok, here's a spot for a wind farm, or here's a spot for hydroelectric, or whatever... "No! Not like that!"

    The greenies apparently think that EVs magically grow on trees and electricity magically appears at the plug. Then their leadership flies in private jets to climate conferences [bbc.com]. Even the low-level leadership is full of hypocrites: Here, in Switzerland, the leader of the group that glues themselves to streets recently flew to Mexico for vacation [9gag.com], and also turns out to be a fan of Formula 1 racing.

    “Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.” --George Carlin

    • Re:Love those environmentalists... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by vivian ( 156520 ) on Monday July 24, 2023 @07:27AM (#63710822)

      Ordinarily I would be inclined to agree with you, but in this particular instance, the area is actually very unique, is a green oasis in the desert that literally has many species that exist nowhere else on the planet, and since there is already a suitable place in the northern area of the same state, it seems reasonable to block this.

    • Re:Love those environmentalists... (Score:5, Informative)

      by GrumpySteen ( 1250194 ) on Monday July 24, 2023 @07:55AM (#63710858)

      "Tuesday North America's largest lithium mining operation cleared its last legal hurdle in federal appeals court, giving a green light to the mining of 6,000 acres in an 18,000-acre project site near Nevada's northern border."

      "Federal land managers have formally withdrawn their authorization of a Canadian mining company's lithium exploration project bordering a national wildlife refuge in southern Nevada"

      If you'd bothered to actually read the summary, you would have seen that your environmentalist bogymen okayed a huge lithium mining operation in the same state. The difference is that it it's not right next to an environmental reserve and won't kill off a bunch of unique species.

      • "Tuesday North America's largest lithium mining operation cleared its last legal hurdle in federal appeals court, giving a green light to the mining of 6,000 acres in an 18,000-acre project site near Nevada's northern border."

        "Federal land managers have formally withdrawn their authorization of a Canadian mining company's lithium exploration project bordering a national wildlife refuge in southern Nevada"

        If you'd bothered to actually read the summary, you would have seen that your environmentalist bogymen okayed a huge lithium mining operation in the same state. The difference is that it it's not right next to an environmental reserve and won't kill off a bunch of unique species.

        The same people who jump to the standard positions of them damn environmentalists! and heaping derision on the "woke" - which now means anyone they disagree with - are simply using memes that allow them to have the simple standard enemy they need, so they don't need to think, just regurgitate pap.

        There is a whole lot more than just tree huggers or whoever their hate target du jour their simple minds can grasp.

        There is the strategic reserve issue. You don't go using all of your goodies up just because

    • Re:Love those environmentalists... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by mobby_6kl ( 668092 ) on Monday July 24, 2023 @08:27AM (#63710910)

      "We want EVs, stop burning fossil fuels!" Ok, we need lithium, here's a mine. "No! Not like that!"

      It's the same every time. "We want green power!". Ok, here's a spot for a wind farm, or here's a spot for hydroelectric, or whatever... "No! Not like that!"

      The environmentalist solution isn't EVs, it's public transport. EVs is the "status quo" solution.

      Wind farms are mainly opposed by people that are mad that they ruin their views, e.g. Trump, not environmentalists. There's hardly any unexploited hydroelectric locations and the dams do wreck the local environment so you can't just dismiss that.

      COP attendees aren't really "greenies" unless you think Sunak or bin Salman count:

      The leaders of some of historyâ(TM)s largest polluters are slated to speak, including the president of the European Union, Ursula Von der Leyen, and Britainâ(TM)s prime minister, Rishi Sunak. Both have ambitious targets to reduce emissions of planet-warming gases. Mohamed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, is also scheduled to make an address, though his kingdom has no plans to slow down the exploitation of fossil fuels.

      https://www.nytimes.com/2022/1... [nytimes.com]

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Here, in Switzerland, the leader of the group that glues themselves to streets recently flew to Mexico for vacation, and also turns out to be a fan of Formula 1 racing.

      Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

      "We need to reduce CO2 emissions."
      "I won't accept any reduction in quality of life, I must be able to keep flying and racing fossil fuel cars."
      "Okay, we aren't saying you have to stop doing those things, although they could reduce their emissions. In fact I enjoy both without compromising on the goal of net zero."
      "Hypocrite!"

      FWIW F1 is supposed to be going net zero. For flying the main focus is on business users who make a lot of flights, not individuals who maybe go

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Junta ( 36770 )

      Well, in this specific situation, we already have an agreement that a designated area is worth preservation as a refuge.

      So outside that refuge, you want to do a project that is surface construction? Ok then. They probably would shrug at a solar farm, they might ask about avian life impact of windmills in an area, but less resistance. Hydroelectric would probably get a bigger objection, given just how much that changes the local environment (though that area is heavily hydro powered already). Or even som

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Rei ( 128717 )

        Except that they don't shrug at solar farms either [electrek.co].

        It's just extreme NIMBYism.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Rei ( 128717 )

          And for the record, there are solutions for dealing with groundwater.

          The mine in question is clay, so they actually don't want to encounter groundwater. But even in cases where it's the groundwater that's desired (such as salar lithium brine), the standard solution is that of Los Flamencos Nature Reserve in Chile. Brine is not particularly useful to humans, but at Los Flamencos it feeds halophilic plants and microbes and creates a sort of oasis ecosystem. Albermale taps into the same brine for salar lithiu

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Rei ( 128717 )

            I mean, not to put too fine a point on it, but the endless expanses of deserts of southern Nevada are jam-packed with a patchwork of refuges and parks. It's only 8km from Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge to the Funeral Mountains Wilderness Area, which is itself part of Death Valley National Park, which can also be found stretching from 20km south to 11km W of Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, and beyond to the WNW. 24km SSE of Ash Meadows is the Nopah Range Wilderness Area. 19km ESE you're inside P

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Junta ( 36770 )

            In such a situation, the next step is for the extraction company to counter with information about why the groundwater is not threatened, in an updated notice to BLM.

            We have to navigate nuance here, and even if they ultimately can proceed after clarifying the situation with respect to groundwater safety, then at least it's more likely they have explicit thought toward the groundwater situation in their final strategy.

            Folks should at least be able to raise their concerns and have them be evaluated in the pro

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Junta ( 36770 )

          The question is whether it's the same "them". Judging from the article, it's likely not the same them. In that instance, yeah, they are absolutely unreasonable NIMBY folks, even blatantly admitting it in their commentary. Seemingly recognizing that there is a such thing as whiny empty NIMBY-ism but on the other hand it is 'their' backyard, so it's totally different... somehow?

          Also that 'art' that they say is important to keep tourists interested in seeing is... a trench? Just... wow....

          However, it seems

    • Ah, environmentalists. Ya gotta love 'em. They are blocking even exploration for possible lithium extraction, for a site that is not even part of the wildlife refuge.

      It's being left alone because it is not needed yet

      Don't worry, if we find ourselves in a war situation, and the lithium is needed, they will eliminate the wildlife refuge, and you or I or anyone who gets in the way.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by sinij ( 911942 )
      Green movement is an anti-capitalist movement masquerading as environment movement. You can clearly see this in them opposing any solution that would actually reduce global pollution in favor of measures that would disproportionately impact quality of life. This is how you end up with schizophrenic set of believes that is against fossil fuels AND nuclear energy at the same time.

    • What does Formula 1 racing have to do with anything? Optically they're a problem, but real emissions added up - everything from transport to events, the race itself, and the carbon footprint of all of the attendees and their related travel to and from the race - and the average touring musical band is a bigger problem per year than F1. There are less than 25 races per year.

      Want a high value target? Stop all large concerts. And I LOVE a good concert. But 100+ tour dates per year, say 20,000 attendees traveli

  • Of cource they can not have their own mine if they need reason to invade or exploit Mexico. How would that look...

  • My surprised face (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Tailhook ( 98486 ) on Monday July 24, 2023 @05:28AM (#63710648)

    BANANA

    Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything.

    The governing principle of the Western world.

    • You're joking, I know, but land clearing is a big contributor to atmospheric CO2. Cleared land doesn't absorb much carbon. It's also a major cause of habitat loss which drives mass extinction.

      • While thatâ(TM)s true, clearing the land area involved in a mine doesnâ(TM)t produce anywhere near the amount of fossil fuels that the ICEs would. And you know what else causes extinctions? Rapidly heating the planet. Far more extinctions than this would.

      • Re: My surprised face (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Rei ( 128717 ) on Monday July 24, 2023 @06:27AM (#63710730) Homepage

        An EV prevents the emission of about 50 tonnes of CO2 over its lifespan vs. an equivalent gasoline car, and uses maybe 12kg of lithium (which is recycled at end of life, not consumed). For a 100m deep lithium resource at 1000ppm-recoverable and density of 1600kg/m, that's 100kg/m, that's 416 tonnes of CO2 per square meter (again, ignoring recycling). Do you think that there's 416 tonnes of carbon in a square meter of desert plants? Let's entirely ignore that land use is entirely temporary**, and that ICE vehicles also are made of "stuff" that doesn't just appear from thin air (including actually rare minerals like platinum).

        ** Rover Metals is, like most companies in the new Nevada boom, looking at a clay project. The mining process is very simple:

        1) Dig up clay.
        2) Run the clay through a process to leach out the lithium.
        3) Put the clay back in the hole.

        If anything, they're probably improving soil fertility by decompacting it, bringing deep minerals to the surface, etc. This isn't hard rock mining. There's no acid mine ponds. No heavy metals (like the lead in your ICE car's lead-acid battery). It's just bloody clay.

        • "proposed operations are likely to result in disturbance to localized groundwaters that supply the connected surface waters associated with Threatened and Endangered species in local springs"

          So regardless of what they did with the clay, the mining would probably screw up the adjacent springs.

          • Re: My surprised face (Score:5, Interesting)

            by Rei ( 128717 ) on Monday July 24, 2023 @09:57AM (#63711192) Homepage

            I'm sorry, but the notion that drilling 30 shallow boreholes (which are capped) is going to eliminate high-flow-rate springs that are fed by water that's flowed for at least many dozens of kilometers already through strata so deep that they're hard to reach even deliberately, before permeating to the surface at Ash Meadows because of its highly fractured carbonate strata [nanfa.org], is beyond absurd.

            We're not talking about a permit for mining. We're talking a permit for drilling 30 capped holes in the ground.

            Meanwhile, just west of the reserve, farmers already deliberately pump up water en masse to irrigate their fields [google.is] (yes, it's pumped up from wells [nv.gov]), but nobody seems to give a rat's arse about that.

            • Where did you see that the proposed boreholes would be shallow? The concern is that the boreholes would penetrate and possibly connect multiple strata, which could result in draining away water that otherwise would make it to the surface.

              From your article; "there is a general consensus that the water in the springs of Ash Meadows and Death Valley has travelled underground over large distances". Everything else about it "remain points of discussion and research".

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by Rei ( 128717 )

                Because the mines are shallow. Nobody is drilling multi-kilometer deep boreholes to assess reserves for an open-pit mine. That would be nonsensical.

                And I'll repeat: literally just 8km west from several of Ash Meadows' most notable springs, farmers are deliberately pumping up water en masse, yet nobody seems to give a rat's arse about that by comparison. Better focus on stopping the drilling of 30 tiny holes (a typical core sample is only a couple centimetres across). :P

                • What makes you think "nobody seems to give a rat's arse about" water being pumped up by farmers?
                  https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publi... [usgs.gov]

                  But whatever, I am not seeing reports that it has damaged the springs. And your claim that the boreholes would be shallow and tiny appear to be sheer speculation.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by Rei ( 128717 )

                Also, since you apparently can't read, re: the depths in which water reaches Ash Meadows:

                "Boreholes drilled within the basins are rarely deep enough to penetrate
                to the floor"

                "A number of boreholes have
                been drilled into the basins (black dots, Fig 3), yet the basins are so
                deep that most did not reach bedrock"

                "The bedrock floor of most basins lies at great depth under
                a very thick layer of sediments."

                For the record, I've followed other open-pit mining projects working on lithium clays. They usually qualify th

                • That may be "the depths in which water reaches Ash Meadows", but so what?

                  And since you ignored it I will repeat;
                  "The concern is that the boreholes would penetrate and possibly connect multiple strata, which could result in draining away water that otherwise would make it to the surface."

                  • Re: (Score:2)

                    by Rei ( 128717 )

                    Versus deliberately seeking out the water and mass pumping it to the surface for agriculture?

                    And the notion that tiny filled-in holes are going to drain water-bearing strata (where water flow rates might be on the order of 10-20 meters per day, relying instead rather on extensive area coverage), which feed high flow-rate springs, is hydrologically absurd. Ignoring the fact that we're talking about shallow boreholes vs. deep water.

                    • More speculation. You don't know how large or deep the bore holes would be and you don't know that they would be filled in.

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by sfcat ( 872532 )
          That isn't really true unless you don't count the cost of making the EV in the first place or assume it is the same as making an ICE. This is just plain false. EVs take a lot more resources to build than an ICE. That's because my EV weighs 6600 lbs and if I switched to an ICE it would be about 2000 lbs or less. And I don't have a pure EV like a Tesla. Also, most of the metals (not Li, but Cobalt, Steal, Copper, Zinc, Nickel, etc) used to build my EV are from hard rock mining, unlike the Li (which is i

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by tragedy ( 27079 )

            Also, most of the metals (not Li, but Cobalt, Steal, Copper, Zinc, Nickel, etc) used to build my EV are from hard rock mining, unlike the Li (which is in the 100s of lbs, not 12 kg as you claimed).

            Actually, they were right. It's closer to 12 kg than 100. It takes about 850 grams of lithium carbonate per kWh of battery, but that's Li2CO3. Only about 160 grams out of that 850 grams is actually lithium. So if you have an 85 kWh battery, you have about 13.6 kg of lithium in it. That can vary depending on formula for the particular battery type and the actual capacity of the battery, etc. but it's really only a small portion of the battery mass. That makes a lot of sense. The atomic weight of a lithium at

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Junta ( 36770 )

        Well in this neck of the woods, you don't really have to worry about clearing land, it's all pre cleared. It's desert. Groundwater concerns are valid, but outside the refuge, there's negligible vegetation.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Entrope ( 68843 )

      You just don't appreciate that they understand that, in the face of impending global catastrophe and mass human-caused extinction where dozens or hundreds of species are going extinct each year because of our CO2 emissions, the really critical thing is to protect the Southern Nevada Striped Desert Slug from being startled during its mating season.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Reziac ( 43301 ) *

      But it would be perfectly acceptable to cover the same land with a zillion solar generation units, which would be no less destructive to habitat, and more broadly so than a mere hole in the ground.

      Having lived downwind from such a facility in the desert, I found it caused a huge amount of hitherto-absent dust, and was such a large heat island that it completely prevented our summer nighttime cooling. Meaning no morning dew, which a lot of desert life depends on for water.

  • We wonâ(TM)t protect First Nations sacred lan (Score:3)

    by fortfive ( 1582005 ) on Monday July 24, 2023 @05:39AM (#63710662)

    But end risk for a few species? You betcha! Iâ(TM)m a conservationist, and want to preserve biodiversity much more than the next guy. But this is a nasty double standard.

    the real solution is to enforce more meticulous extraction. It can be done, but it does add cost. And this result should be reversed. American wealth stands on the gross exploitation of first people and certain Africans. The least we can do is protect some of their special places.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Rei ( 128717 )

      This isn't saying "do it more carefully". This is saying "don't do it at all". They're not even trying to extract anything right now, they just want to drill boreholes to take samples. They're not even being allowed to do that.

  • IMO we need to recognize that our planet won't sustainably support a civilization of more than about a billion people - maybe much less - and take steps to reverse population growth. And if we do manage to shrink it to a billion or less, we should consider abandoning some continents to nature.

    Of course, no one will agree to either of those. Or maybe a lot of people would support them both, provided someone else had to make the sacrifices.

    See also: tragedy of the commons.

    • Nope, this is way outdated thinking from like the 70's with the "population bomb" book that has been pretty much entirely discredited and considered absolute junk science. The world population is set to level off soon and frankly we could (and probably should) support close to billion people just in the USA.

      Degrowth in general is for losers on the extreme ends of both political spectrums. The far far left wants it because they think it will bring some socialist utopia where we all farm and work off mutual

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward
        I am fairly confident that as everyone gets older they always look back on past years and remember fondly when that new neighborhood across the street was once a forest or farmland.

        You know what is for losers? Too many people. We aren't rabbits so stop acting like them.

        • You do know quite a lot of people in this world didn't grow up across the street from farmland right? They grow up in cities or suburbs? Don't drag your personal and/or imaginary scenarios into this like it proves anything, at all.

          Save your emotional sleight-of-hand for the next guy. Just becuase you have zero imagination and hate everything, especially yourself doesn't make the convincing argument you think it does. It's just boring.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sfcat ( 872532 )
      You are right about the billion people thing, you just don't understand why. It isn't about mining or CO2 emissions but about fertilizer made from fossil fuels we need to grow enough food for 7b people. And if we did as you propose, we still won't be able to feed 7b people. We could make hydrocarbon fuels from nuclear power and solve this problem. But if we don't do that, there is no amount of sacrifice that will get you to your goal without billions dying for your ideology. And if you actually support

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Evtim ( 1022085 )

        70 percent of the land mass is covered with grass. The only thing you can do with that without using huge amounts of fertilizer is grazers. I posit that the greatest loss of life, health, money and resources in the last 60 years is the high carb, unsaturated fats "healthy diet" that has produced half a billion diabetics alone and is wreaking the medical systems everywhere.

        Now, imagine if USA's medical expenses dropped by half...medical research and manufacturing is extremely costly. What would that do to th

  • https://www.mediaite.com/biden... [mediaite.com]

    Expect the Arkansas lithium operation [slashdot.org] to be shut down too.

  • We need lithium for our renewable energy transition, but this episode sends a message loud and clear that some places are just too special to drill.

    And with this mentality, we are all going to die. And the "too special" moniker will die with us. This is literally what happened to nuclear and look at what we've done. At some point, we've got to get past the sentimental value of all this bullshit and start acting like we're all going to fucking die. Because we're all going to fucking die if we keep just saying "oh no! that's too precious to do something to save us!"

  • Once we hit +4C, I'm pretty sure we won't have to worry about wildlife anymore, let alone human life.

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