Extraction of lithium from geothermal brines has been proposed as a cleaner, more-sustainable alternative to conventional ways of obtaining lithium through brine evaporation or open-pit mining. Near the Salton Sea in Imperial Valley, California, lithium production has been framed as a panacea for resolving past and ongoing problems of environmental injustice and ecological degradation. Developers propose renewable geothermal energy production to be paired with new direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology in a closed-loop system that promises to heal a sacrifice zone contaminated by agricultural chemicals, military testing, waste dumping, algae blooms, and dust pollution.
Developers and resource managers, seeking to transform Imperial Valley into “Lithium Valley,” have imagined direct lithium extraction from geothermal brine at the Salton Sea as a more just and sustainable model that could potentially avoid the deleterious impacts associated with lithium mining from brine evaporation ponds in South America, particularly water depletion. However, there are key contradictions inherent to the hydrosocial dynamics between geothermal lithium development and environmental health issues related to the shrinking water level of the Salton Sea. Environmental justice activists, Indigenous Tribes and fenceline community members have expressed concerns regarding water availability and quality, solid waste streams, air pollution, and seismic activity. They have demanded more community engagement, timely consultation, equitable distribution of community benefits, project labor agreements, and protection of cultural resources.
While lithium extraction may appear to be a clean and green solution to climate change, a critically engaged approach to the water-energy nexus interrogates how geothermal lithium development at the Salton Sea might either exacerbate local ecological burdens or offer concrete benefits to fenceline communities. To apply research in support of local fenceline community members, the PI and Co-PIs of this project have partnered with the environmental justice organization Comite Civico del Valle (CCV) and serve on CCV's Lithium Valley Equity Technical Advisory Group (LVETAG). They also provide input and feedback to Imperial County as members of the Lithium Valley Specific Plan and Programmatic Environmental Impact Report Academic Task Force