Protest against Thacker Pass at Reno Federal Courthouse by Monique Normand https://desertfog.org/01-20210721-0846-moniquenev5-01-court-protest/
Lithium is prized both for being the lightest metal and its ability to conduct electricity, characteristics which have led the mineral to be widely incorporated into battery production. Escalating demand for lithium-ion batteries is driving lithium mining around the world. Globally, lithium mining has generated community and environmental opposition around water rights and water quality issues, as well as impacts on habitat, endangered species, cultural resources, and agriculture. Existing lithium production is predominately in South America and Australia, but the United States federal government has recently sought to increase national supplies by fasttracking mining permit processes and financially supporting lithium extraction. Numerous companies are purchasing mineral claims to US lithium sources and new technologies are being pursued due to high prices for lithium and expectations for increasing demands. At the present time, Nevada is home to the only active US lithium mine.
The McDermitt Caldera contains clay lithium deposits, which is in a rural location along the Nevada-Oregon border near agricultural communities and the Fort McDermitt Indian Reservation. The Bureau of Land Management completed an Environmental Impact Statement for the mining project proposed at Thacker Pass and approved the project during the last days of the Trump administration. The state of Nevada has also permitted the project. While the project represents economic development opportunities, local communities and groups have raised concerns about the impacts on Indigenous cultural sites, their mistrust of the mining operator, desert water use, water quality issues, proximity of the mine to roadless areas, the importance of water and land for migratory birds, and other wildlife and visual issues. Nevada’s Thacker Pass project has received significant coverage in news media and continues to be actively protested and litigated. Meanwhile a nearby lithium extraction project within the McDermitt Caldera across the state border in Oregon is currently in the exploration phase, yet it has received less attention. We examine both the Nevada and Oregon mining projects together because they are co-located but have different social and regulatory contexts, which could help to reveal how frontline communities are mobilizing and how environmental justice policies are operationalized.