One feature of living in the desert is that most of its treasures remain hidden from untrained eyes. Take the Amargosa River, for example. For most of its 185-mile course, it travels underground, only surfacing during periods of heavy rainfall. The Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge lies within the river’s watershed. It received refuge status in 1984 to protect its rare habitat. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ash Meadows is the largest remaining oasis in the Mojave Desert. It has the highest concentration of endemic species in the U.S., with four endangered fish species and seven threatened or endangered plant species.
For the Newe (Western Shoshone) and Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute), Ash Meadows is the intersection of their ancestral homelands and is therefore important to both groups. I am reminded of its cultural significance every time I shuttle between Las Vegas and Death Valley National Park. As soon as I descend the Funeral Mountains, a landmark for my tribe, the Timbisha Shoshone, comes into view. It plays a role in the Amargosa Valley’s creation story and is like a sentinel reminding me I’m leaving our homelands. On the return trip, especially on a clear day, nearly all the river’s upper course is visible. It’s an incredible vista that includes a peek at the section of Death Valley National Park within Nevada’s borders. As I begin the climb back over the Funeral Mountains, another of my tribe’s landmarks greets me — one that appears in a story about our four-legged relatives who live in the area. It’s my reminder that I am home.
In April, Canadian mining company Rover Metals announced that it had received an exploration drill permit for 6,000 acres of land in Ash Meadows. What indirectly lured them here is U.S. political leaders’ inability to adequately respond to climate change. Our leaders’ lack of timely action has created a crisis mentality conducive to legislative and policy decisions that incentivize the extraction of what the Secretary of Interior deems “critical” minerals. In the case of Ash Meadows, Rover Metals is searching for lithium. The Center for Biological Diversity, which is suing the Bureau of Land Management over the agency’s approval of the Ash Meadows drilling permit, has identified 78 sites targeted for lithium exploration or development in Nevada alone. The Ash Meadows plan shows how recent and proposed legislative action have emboldened the extractive industry.
To get an idea of what to expect should Ash Meadows be mined for lithium, we need only look at Thacker Pass, in Northern Nevada. Thacker Pass is located on Numu (Northern Paiute) ancestral homelands. The area is important to tribes with cultural ties, particularly those whose ancestors were massacred there in the 19th century. A coalition of tribes, local ranchers, and environmental groups has banded together to stop the mine. So far, their legal challenges have not succeeded. As I write this, heavy machinery is clearing land after water protectors were pushed out of their prayer camps. The tribes’ main point of contention is that the Bureau of Land Management failed to properly consult them during the permitting process. Their fight focuses attention on federal land managers’ competency and the laws governing mineral extraction on public lands.
Researchers who study the country’s transition to renewable energy do not dispute that we are in a climate crisis. They do, however, disagree on the amount of minerals needed to facilitate the transition to renewable energy, and on how those determinations were made. A 2023 report prepared for the Climate and Community Project, a progressive think tank, found “that the United States can achieve zero-emissions transportation while limiting the amount of lithium mining necessary by reducing the car dependence of the transportation system, decreasing the size of EV batteries, and maximizing lithium recycling.” Researchers produced the results of four models for lithium requirements that demonstrated demand for lithium could be lowered between 18 and 66 percent. Our metropolitan areas play a critical role in ensuring a fair transition to clean energy that does not overburden rural and Indigenous communities.
One thing is clear about our country’s effort to create a domestic supply chain for renewable energy: It is threatening to onshore and heighten the human rights violations and environmental destruction that went mostly ignored when the U.S. obtained its minerals from less-developed countries. Over a 12-year period, the Business and Human Rights Centre tracked 93 companies that extract critical minerals and recorded 510 allegations of human rights violations. Tribal governments have reason to look at these statistics with alarm. As finance company MSCI warned in its blog, “Many of the remaining untapped deposits of the metals critically needed for U.S. energy transition from fossil fuels are located either near or within areas of cultural and environmental importance to Native Americans.” Among U.S. reserves of these key energy-transition metals, a high majority of nickel, copper, lithium, and cobalt are located within 35 miles of Native American reservations.
Still, it’s not all doom and gloom. The green economy is in its early stages. Our fate is not yet determined. The question is, will we replicate the path set by the fossil-fuel industry? Or will we create new systems that achieve our sustainability goals and fulfill our environmental and social obligations?
Editor’s note: Shortly before press time, the BLM said it had paused Rover’s drilling permit pending further review. Follow developments at knpr.org.