U.S. agency study says Nevada lithium mine can coexist with endangered flower

RENO, Nevada — U.S. land managers said Thursday they have completed a final environmental assessment of a proposed lithium mine in Nevada that would provide minerals critical to electric vehicles and a clean energy future while protecting a endangered wildflower.

“This environmental analysis is the result of the hard work of experts from multiple agencies to ensure we protect species while providing critical minerals to the nation,” Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning said in a statement Thursday.

The agency’s final environmental impact statement is subject to a 30-day comment period. likely to face legal challenges from environmentalists who say the move clearly violates the Endangered Species Act and will drive the desert flower, Tiehm’s buckwheat, to extinction in the only place it exists in the world, near the California border, halfway between Reno and Las Vegas.

The Australian mining company promoting the project said the completion of the review was a “significant milestone” in a six-year effort to build the Rhyolite Ridge mine. Production of the key element for making batteries for electric vehicles is expected to begin as early as 2028.

“Today’s issuance not only advances the Rhyolite Ridge project, but also moves the United States closer to a more secure and sustainable source of domestic critical minerals,” said Bernard Rowe, Chief Executive Officer of Ioneer Ltd.

Opponents of the project say it is the latest example of how President Joe Biden’s administration is failing to uphold protections for native wildlife and rare species in the United States. and sacred tribal lands in the name of slowing climate change by reducing dependence on fossil fuels and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The Fish and Wildlife Service added the 6-inch-tall wildflower with yellow and cream flowers to the U.S. endangered species list on Dec. 14, 2022, citing mining as the greatest threat to its survival.

The bureau said Thursday that the mine could potentially produce enough lithium to power nearly 370,000 electric vehicles a year. By 2030, global lithium demand is expected to increase sixfold from 2020 levels.

“The Rhyolite Ridge project represents what we can do when we work together – with industry, states, tribes and stakeholders – to ensure projects are quickly considered and adapted to meet our energy needs while respecting culturally and environmentally sensitive areas,” said Laura Daniel-Davis, acting deputy secretary of the Department of the Interior, the bureau’s parent agency.

The office said in announcing the completion of the review that details of the final EIS would be published Friday in the Federal Register.

The Center for Biological Diversity has been fighting the mine since its inception and is committed to doing everything in its power to block it.

Patrick Donnelly, the center’s Great Basin director, said Thursday that despite the administration’s assurances that the flower would be protected, the mining plan is little changed from an earlier version and would still destroy much of the plant’s critical habitat.

“It is an outrage that the BLM and the Fish and Wildlife Service have capitulated to the demands of a mining company whose plans are clearly in violation of the Endangered Species Act,” he said.

“These agencies are tasked with preserving our biodiversity for future generations, and instead they are turning this flower’s only known habitat into an industrial site, condemning it to extinction,” he said.

The office insisted that Ioneer had adjusted its latest plan to minimize habitat destruction for the plant, which grows in eight subpopulations that together cover about 10 acres (4 hectares) — an area equal to the size of about eight football fields.

“We look forward to getting to work helping to ensure the national supply of critical materials essential to the transition to a clean energy future,” Ioneer Executive Chairman James Calaway said Thursday.

In addition to reducing encroachment on the plant, Ioneer’s strategy includes a controversial propagation plan for growing and transplanting flowers nearby — something environmentalists say won’t work.

Nevada is home to the only existing lithium mine in the United States, and another is currently under construction near the Oregon border, 220 miles north of Reno. Americas Lithium Mine at Thacker Pass has survived numerous legal challenges from environmentalists and Native American tribes who said it would destroy land they considered sacred and where their ancestors were massacred by U.S. troops in 1865.